THE number of international students joining York St John University for the new academic year has increased slightly compared to last year, despite the global pandemic.

The Press contacted York St John to find out how many international students would be joining the university for the 2020/21 academic year, and how this compared with the 2019/20 year.

The university is awaiting final confirmation on numbers for the new academic year, but confirmed that it had 70 international (non EU) students in 2019/2020 and is expecting a slightly larger cohort for 2020/21.

Phillip Gray, director of international at the university, said: "The number of international students joining York St John University in the 2020/2021 academic year has increased slightly in comparison to last year.

"Our EU and international student population has been growing year on year and, thanks to the support we have in place for international students, growth has continued this year despite the pandemic.

"The University has also recruited in line with expected numbers of home (UK), and EU students and we currently have a student population of just over 7,500.”

The Press also asked the University of York how many international students would be joining this academic year, but we were told it was too early for them to be able to give any figures.

A spokesperson said: "Staff across the university are working hard to ensure as many international students as possible are able to join us, and we are responding to the situation as flexibly as we can. For example, we have made provision for staggered start times for programmes with high demand from international students."