British universities are growing even more dependent on international students from China according to a report.

The Times Higher Education Supplement highlighted the latest UK government immigration statistics and found that the number of study visas granted to students from the Chinese mainland rose 10 percent to 77,290 in the year to March 2017.

That represented a 37 percent of all study visas granted to students from outside the European Union over the period.

This is a major change compared with about 10 years ago when India was the dominant source of non-EU students.

The turnaround has been attributed to the shift in visa policies by the UK government, according to the Times Higher Education Supplement, “particularly the decision to stop the post-study work visas that were attractive to students from the subcontinent”.

Home Office visa data which showed that over the past few years around 49 percent of visa applicants to higher education institutions now come from East Asia.

Meanwhile, the United States came in second to China in the year to March 2017 on study visas granted with almost 14,300, while India was third with just above 11,600.

A government launched pilot scheme last year, easing study visa restrictions for four research-intensive UK universities, could have also played a part in the rise, the report said.

However, overseas students from South Asia applying to study in the UK have dropped from almost 20 percent in 2010 to under 10 percent in 2016. There has also been a fall in demand from sub-Saharan Africa.

Around 70,000 visa applicants from China to UK universities were made in 2016, a rise of 77 percent compared with 2012 when there were just under 40,000. While the number of students seeking visas from India almost halved from 2010 to just over 10,700.