A 2% rise in international applicants for full-time undergraduate study in the UK over the last year was not enough to offset a 5% fall in applicants from the EU, according to the latest figures from UCAS.

Stakeholders have pointed to a lack of clarification over how Brexit would impact EU students as the reason for a 7% drop in UCAS applications from the EU.

More students from the EU were accepted to a UK university than ever before in 2016, the latest UCAS statistics have revealed, while acceptances from outside the EU have dropped for the first time in five years.

In the first UCAS statistics published relating to the next academic year, there has been a recorded 7% increase in applicants from the EU and a 3% increase from those outside the EU for undergraduate study. Statistics by domicile have also been released.

The UK’s undergraduate sector has seen solid growth in international applicants for the second year in a row as UCAS figures show non-EU applications have risen another 6% this year. The report indicates strong demand from Malaysia and the UAE among all applications submitted for 2014/2015.

The UK's education exports have been labelled a "growth success story" by Brian Johnson, Head of International HE Strategy, at BIS. Last week's BUILA's annual conference also delivered updates on UCAS's agent-friendly changes and Immigration Bill insight.

We are assessing whether it’s needed that there is an admissions service for UK overseas branch campuses, or whether it’s a service we could offer universities to such opportunities on our course search

A new international strategy from UCAS, significant opportunity in markets such as Indonesia and Iraq and a revelatory update from Universities UK all featured in a information-loaded BUILA annual conference last week. Organisations working hard to boost the sector's international capabilities interacted with delegates in the Scottish capital.