The rates of students from South East Wales that leave Wales for study
8 April 2024
Owain James
In recent blog posts, we have been looking at Wales’ regions, and the rates in which their students leave Wales for study.
This time, South East Wales has the spotlight!
What’s notable in the case of South East Wales is that it closely matches the national average. 37.8% of students from South East Wales studied outside of Wales in 2021/22, where the national average was 37%. This is partly explained by the fact that South East Wales, as the most populous area of Wales, has a disproportionate impact on the nationwide stats. But it also fits neatly between the rates of other regions (Mid and North Wales which has a higher rate, and West Wales which has a lower rate), because it has a strong blend of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors.
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Push factors:
- The area shares a border with England, with strong east to west transport links facilitating migration to and from England
- The region contains wealthier areas – wealthier students are enabled to move to universities in England if there cost of living there is higher. Another factor is that the majority of selective universities are based outside of Wales, and those from wealthier backgrounds disproportionally perform better academically at A-Level.
Pull factors:
- The three universities based in the region (Cardiff University, Cardiff Met and University of South Wales) help retain a lot of people to the area
- Large built-up areas (Cardiff, Newport) also draw people to stay for study
- The region also contains areas with high levels of Multiple Deprivation (moving outside of Wales is more difficult for students from low income families)
But while the rates of those who leave Wales for study in South East Wales are ‘average’ for Wales, this average is comparatively high. 38% of students from Wales who who graduated between 2017-2019 studied outside of Wales. When you compare this with Northern Ireland, only 28.4% studied outside of Northern Ireland for the same period.
In Scotland, only 6.6% left Scotland for study.
