January (or Spring) entry is an increasingly common option for Masters and PhD study. In fact, as I write this, around 15% of the programmes on FindAMasters offer a January entry point – and more than a third allow students to start between January and June (outside the 'normal' autumn recruitment cycle).
If you're reading this, chances are your university offers some form of January entry point for at least some of your programmes. And you're potentially considering adding one for a few more.
But do audiences actually want to start a Masters or PhD in January? And which ones? The answers are "yes, definitely" and "let me show you".
If you've skipped ahead to the chart you may be surprised to see data for undergraduate (Bachelors) audiences in a FindAUniversity blog. But fear not – there's no need to delete your cookies, check your browser settings or turn your monitor off and on again. Thanks to our wider Keystone Higher Ed Insights data comparing UG and PG audiences is exactly what we can now do.
And it's an interesting comparison:
The data above is based on Keystone Pulse responses in Q3 (July to September) for prospective international students (anyone considering studying outside their home country) across all destinations. We offer the next four entry points, labelled as Spring and Autumn (to account for the fact that start dates are often more flexible than January or September).
Interest in Spring 2025 increases in steps as we go 'up the levels' of study (allowing the conceit that MBA sits somewhere between Masters and PhD in Postgraduate Top Trumps).
31% of prospective international Bachelors students are considering starting in January 2025 and that rises up to a whopping 46% of PhD students. This probably reflects the general flexibility of postgraduate research (particularly in certain subject areas).
I've left Autumn 2024 off the chart to make it easier to compare Spring/January, but it's visible in the 'missing' segment of the stacked bars. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's the undergraduate audience that's most interested in this (around 38%) but MBA is also fairly 'asap'.
Focussing specifically on postgraduate from here on, this is what we see if we break down audiences at Masters level:
And again at PhD:
Responses here are regardless of whether respondents want to study abroad (or where). The UK audience in particular will be mostly domestic, but that provides a useful comparison of interest for 'home' and 'international' students for UK universities. I've also grouped European audiences together for the sake of a more manageable chart – we'd be very happy to dive deeper into data for more specific groups of students (just get in touch).
So, what do we see?
Interest in January starts is generally highest in South Asia and Africa (across both levels of study) and lowest in 'western' UK, US and European audiences.
There are some exceptions and outliers though. Indonesian Masters audiences are relatively uninterested in Spring 2025, but the most keen on Spring 2026 and generally very interested in 2025/26 entry overall – an audience that plans ahead. It's a different picture at PhD though, where Indonesian interest in Spring 2025 is comparable to other audiences. Ethiopia, on the other hand, is the most 'asap' of all international audiences, with substantial interest in Autumn 2024, particularly when compared to elsewhere in Africa.
China also stands out with the lowest interest in Spring 2025 of all international audiences at both levels of study (and comparatively little interest in Spring 2026). Instead this pipeline is already very focussed on Autumn 2025.
Overall, there's significant interest in Spring 2025 across the board (even for China and the UK where a quarter are considering this option). But appreciating these differences can help you target the right audiences at the right levels.
There's no obvious reason why the subject someone wants to study at Masters or PhD level should critically impact their preferred entry point and this is reflected in the data.
Here it is for Masters:
And again for PhD:
I suspect what we're really seeing here are differences in the underlying audiences. For example, Psychology appeals strongly to undergraduate 'continuers' who are more locked-in to the September cycle. Whereas Social Sciences, Business and Healthcare all see a lot of interest from 'returner' audiences coming back to Masters or PhD study.
Again, this is something we can explore in more detail if there are particular audiences you want to investigate. For now, I'd say that it's useful to verify that subject doesn't have a dramatic difference – whether you should offer an alternative entry probably has more to do with the audience you want to attract than the specific thing you want to attract them to.
In either case, you can make sure your opportunities are as visible as possible on FindAMasters by adding them to our free January Starts hub. Get in touch with the team by email or phone (+44 (0)114 268 4940) if you'd like that to be sorted for you.
Which, of course, is what policy typically does.
It's worth bearing in mind that January entry is a significant cut-off point for some of the changes impacting international study in popular destinations. In January 2025:
That's a lot for prospective students to consider and it may well create some incentives to either 'beat the door' on potential changes, or simply change study plans themselves.
We'll be keeping an eye on things in our monthly Pulse reports. I'll also be talking through some of the broader opportunities for international recruitment in a FindAUniversity webinar on Thursday 24 October.