Oxbridge pushed out of the top rankings spots, Apple joins AI search, and demand slows for Australian study abroad

1 October 2025Newsletter

Welcome to The Student Funnel, a monthly higher ed sector newsletter from Hybrid, a leader in student marketing and recruitment strategies. We highlight news, trends, and behaviours that impact the sector and share insights on how to better connect with your audiences.

For the first time in its 32-year history, The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide has placed both Oxford and Cambridge outside the top three in its rankings.

The 2026 edition, released earlier this month, sees the London School of Economics retain the top spot for a second year, followed by St Andrews in second and Durham in third.

Oxbridge now sit jointly in fourth, edged out by Durham’s rise, which was primarily driven by gains in teaching quality and student experience. Durham’s additional recognition as University of the Year further challenges the long-standing stereotype of it being a fallback for Oxbridge applicants.

Other institutions in the top 10 include Imperial, Bath, Warwick, UCL and Bristol. LSE also picked up several accolades, including Russell Group University of the Year.

It’s worth noting, however, that Oxford topped The Guardian’s 2026 rankings, with Cambridge coming in at third — highlighting how different guides prioritise different criteria. The Times ranking, for example, factors in average UCAS tariff points, the percentage of ‘good honours’ degrees, graduate outcomes (including high-level employment and postgraduate study), and student continuation rates from first to second year.

Meanwhile, The Guardian, in their own words, uses “eight measures of performance, covering all stages of the student life cycle, to put together a league table for 66 subjects”.

Despite a turbulent year in U.S. higher education, which saw funding cuts, demographic shifts and political pressure, the U.S. News & World Report 2026 university rankings show remarkable stability.

Princeton, MIT and Harvard retained the top three spots among national universities, with Stanford and Yale tied for fourth. The University of Chicago re-entered the top 10, replacing Caltech, which dropped to 11th.

While the formula for these findings remained largely unchanged, minor adjustments to the minimum cohort size for retention and graduation metrics led to some shifts, particularly outside the top tier. For example, the University of Pennsylvania moved up three spots into a four-way tie at No. 7, while Texas Christian University broke into the top 100.

The rankings themselves continue to spark debate as U.S. News faces ongoing criticism over its methodology, commercial incentives, and reliance on self-reported data. But despite all the criticism, the rankings remain influential, with students and institutions still paying close attention.

For marketers, national and international rankings remain a high-visibility touchpoint, but one that increasingly needs to be contextualised within a broader narrative of value, access and impact.

Google’s AI overviews: Are users still clicking?

A year after Google launched its AI Overviews, new survey data from NP Digital shows that traditional click behaviour hasn’t disappeared. But it may be starting to shift.

More than 80% of U.S. adults still click on a website after reading an AI summary, with only 4.4% saying they never do. Yet a third of respondents felt they were visiting fewer websites overall, suggesting AI is beginning to shape browsing habits.

For higher education marketers, the takeaway is that AI is filtering information before prospective students reach your site. While most still click through, trust in AI summaries is mixed. Some users see them as more reliable than traditional results, while others highlight inaccuracies or irrelevance. That inconsistency means institutions can’t assume their content is being represented fairly or accurately.

With nearly six in ten users saying they’d turn off AI Overviews if they could, it shows that students are still seeking trusted, direct sources. Universities need to ensure their content is structured, credible, and positioned as authoritative, so that when AI does summarise it (or when students bypass summaries to click through) their institution comes across as both visible and trustworthy.

Apple enters the AI search race

Apple’s new AI-powered answer engine, known internally as ‘World Knowledge Answers’, is set to launch in early 2026. Built into Siri, Safari, and Spotlight, this marks Apple’s biggest move yet into generative AI and will reshape how search happens on iPhones.

Unlike traditional search engines, Apple’s approach blends voice, visuals, local context, and large language models to deliver direct answers, with no blue links in sight. That means if your content isn’t understood or surfaced by Apple’s AI, it may not be seen at all on iPhones.

For marketers, this insight into Apple’s plans is a reminder to ensure your content is AI-ready, voice-friendly, and structured for summarisation. Whether students are asking Siri about course options or finding open days through Safari, how your institution appears (or doesn’t) in AI answers matters more than ever.

UK: Growth in international students meets policy tensions

The number of overseas students in the UK has more than doubled over the past decade, according to the OECD’s latest Education at a Glance report. International students now make up 23% of the UK student population, second only to Luxembourg and Australia, and the UK remains the world’s second most popular destination after the US.

Speakers at the report launch called this a “UK success story”, noting strong completion rates and the financial role international students play in supporting the system. However, concerns persist regarding over-reliance on tuition fees, with international students effectively supporting university finances amid declining public funding.

At the same time, policy developments point to an increasingly restrictive environment. The Home Office has launched a direct campaign contacting tens of thousands of international students by text and email, warning of removal if they overstay visas or lodge what are deemed to be “meritless” asylum claims. Around 14,800 asylum applications in the year to June came from former student visa holders, which is nearly six times the number in 2020.

The Labour government has voiced support for international students’ contribution to the UK, but proposals to tighten graduate routes and compliance metrics remain on the table. This tension underscores the challenge for universities: international demand continues to grow, but the policy narrative is increasingly conflicted.

France: Steady growth towards 500,000

France continues its steady rise as a major international study destination, reporting 443,500 international students in 2024/25. This marks a 3% increase year-on-year and nearly 20% growth over the past five years, with international students now making up close to 15% of total enrolment in French higher education.

Students from Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe account for the largest share, while South Asia (particularly India) is emerging as a fast-growing source market. Campus France highlights the system’s diversity of origin markets as a strategic strength, with no single country accounting for more than 10% of total enrolments.

Australia: Visa crackdown slows demand

In contrast to France, Australia has experienced a sharp drop in international student visa applications for the 2024/25 academic year. Lodgements fell to 427,000 during this period, down from nearly 600,000 the previous year. The decline has been steepest in VET (Vocational Education and Training) and ELICOS (English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students).

The shift comes amid a tougher policy environment. The new Genuine Student (GS) requirement, which is now the leading cause of refusals, demands that applicants show study as their primary purpose, with generic statements or weak progression flagged as risks. Visa charges also rose to AUD $2,000 in mid-2025, adding financial pressure to shorter-term and lower-cost pathways.

China, India and Nepal remain the top source countries, but Pakistan has slipped out of the top 10, replaced by Bangladesh. While processing times are improving, the changes signal a system under strain, with integrity measures taking clear priority over growth.

Parents use social media more after they've had children: A new Snapchat study of 7,500 parents found that 59% use social media more after having children. Parents are more likely to post, shop on-platform, and co-browse with their children. Read the full report here.

Instagram reaches 3 billion users: Instagram has become Meta’s third app to reach the landmark, joining Facebook and WhatsApp. This means that more than a third of the world’s population now logs into Instagram each month.
TikTok’s U.S. future still up in the air: The White House announced that President Trump has approved a deal for TikTok’s U.S. operations to be run by a new joint venture, led by Oracle but with U.S. investors holding majority ownership. While framed by the Trump administration as a resolution to the long-running saga, Chinese state media has signalled the deal is not final and that they still have concerns.

Insights