MORE undergraduate applicants have accepted an offer to immediately start studying at a British university or college than did so last year, despite the disruption caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to U.K.’s Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, which is also known as UCAS.

Among applicants from non-European Union nations, by June 18, the deadline for the majority of applications, there was a 12 percent increase in the number of students accepting offers for September, rising from 49,610 in 2019 to 55,380.

UCAS data shows there was a record 73,080 applicants from outside the EU, among them 21,250 from China, up 33.8 percent or 5,370 on last year.

Kate Rowe, higher education and employability chair at the British Chamber in China, said: “The UCAS data is generally encouraging for the U.K. education sector.”

Following a survey that the British Council conducted in April that suggested a significant number of Chinese students were considering canceling their plans to study in the U.K., Rowe said: “In reality, most families are not going to jeopardize a goal they have worked towards for a long time simply because of current uncertainties, especially when the same uncertainties are making other international options much thinner on the ground.”

Rowe said students who have already committed to international routes “seem, by and large, to have made their decisions and they’ll stick to them.”

“The absolute main concern for Chinese students has been the safety of the U.K.,” she said. “If the virus subsides, and universities are operational, students will attend.”

Britain surpassed the U.S. for the first time as Chinese students’ preferred overseas study destination, according to a report in June released by the Beijing-based New Oriental Education & Technology Group, an overseas study agency.

A survey of 6,673 Chinese students by the company found 42 percent hoped to study in Britain compared to just 37 percent who nominated the U.S. It is a significant turnaround to four years ago when 30 percent of respondents hoped to study in Britain while 46 per cent planned to study in the U.S.

Market consulting firm Qianzhan Industry Research Institute said both Britain and the U.S. were still top choices for Chinese students, but people were currently favoring Britain not only because of China-U.S. tensions. They were also attracted by Britain’s shorter schooling period to achieve master’s and doctoral degrees, as well as the friendlier immigration experience.

Britain’s popularity as a study destination was boosted by the reintroduction of its graduate route post-study work visas which allow international students to live and work in Britain for up two years after completing a master’s, or three years after a Ph.D.

Despite the unexpected challenges posed by the novel coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease it causes, many Chinese students remain keen to embark on their studies in the U.K.

Chen Xizhen, an 18-year-old who has been offered a place to read electronic engineering at King’s College London, said: “COVID-19 is not going to change my decision. The situation in the U.K. is starting to get better and I believe the university will make a plan to help international students.”

But, while the virus is not harming U.K. universities in the short term in terms of Chinese student numbers, experts say that could change and students may elect to stay closer to home. Julian Fisher, a senior partner at the consultancy Venture Education in Beijing, said: “Certainly, Chinese parents with children in primary school right now, who were thinking internationally longer-term, might now be reconsidering choices in light of this difficult period and broader geo-political concerns. But these calculations will be colored both by continuing changes and uncertainties, and by an increasing depth and sophistication in Chinese families’ expectations of what U.K. higher education has to offer.”

In 2018, 662,100 Chinese people went abroad to study, up 8.8 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Education. (SD-Agencies)