🇲🇽Mexico Intelligence

Mexico has traditionally been one of the most US-oriented international student markets in Latin America — geographically, culturally and linguistically gravitating toward US universities as the default international education destination. The Trump administration's second term has fundamentally disrupted this dynamic. Mexican students face an increasingly hostile policy environment in the US — including visa cancellations, heightened scrutiny of Latin American applicants, and an administration that has specifically targeted Mexico in trade and immigration rhetoric.

ICEF Monitor confirmed in March 2026 that Mexican students have traditionally gravitated to the US and Canada for study abroad but that Trump's anti-immigration agenda and Canada's international student cap are opening up opportunities for institutions in other countries including the UK. The nearshoring phenomenon — foreign companies setting up in Mexico to access North American markets — is also creating skills gaps in Engineering, Technology and Data Science, driving demand for international qualifications in these fields.

UK universities are well positioned to capture displaced Mexican demand but need to move quickly — other European competitors including Spain, France and Germany are also actively targeting Mexican students. The one-year UK Masters is a particularly compelling proposition for Mexican professionals seeking to upgrade their qualifications efficiently without the multi-year commitment of a US graduate programme.

Sources: ICEF Monitor March 2026; EdCo LATAM Consulting March 2026.

Mexico historically operated one of Latin America's most significant government scholarship programmes for overseas study — CONACYT (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología), founded fifty years ago to fund Mexican citizens to study Science, Technology, Engineering, Social Sciences and Humanities at leading international universities including in the UK. Kings College London, University of Manchester, University of Nottingham, University of Sussex and many others built bilateral CONACYT partnerships and received funded Mexican doctoral and Masters students through this route.

However, CONACYT's international scholarship programme was almost completely eliminated by the previous Mexican government — senior staff were dismissed, international awards paused and funding redirected to domestic scholarships. CONACYT was restructured into SECIHTI in 2025. The consequence for UK universities is twofold. First, the pipeline of CONACYT-funded doctoral students that previously arrived reliably has largely dried up — explaining the decline in Doctoral grants from 84 in 2021 to 54 in 2025. Second, the Masters growth is now driven entirely by self-funded students — a more commercially driven, more price-sensitive cohort but a larger and growing one.

Universities with existing CONACYT partnerships should note the restructuring and engage directly with SECIHTI to understand the new framework. Universities without partnerships should develop direct relationships with Mexican self-funded Masters applicants through agents and digital channels.

Sources: TandfonLine August 2025; University of Sussex CONACYT page; King's College London CONACYT page.