Full list: Africa missing as UK releases 2026 list of universities for graduate work visa

The United Kingdom, UK has released its 2026 Global Universities List for the High Potential Individual (HPI) visa, naming universities across the world whose graduates may qualify for a route to live and work in the country, with no African institution appearing on the list.

The list, published by the UK Home Office on November 1, 2026, covers qualifications awarded between November 1, 2026, and October 31, 2027. It includes institutions in countries such as the United States, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Germany, France and the Netherlands.

The HPI visa is designed for recent graduates of eligible universities outside the UK. It allows qualifying applicants to come to Britain to work or look for work without first securing a job offer or employer sponsorship.

However, being a graduate of an institution on the list does not automatically guarantee a visa. Applicants must also meet other immigration requirements, including English-language and financial criteria.

The 2026 Global Universities List

The Home Office’s 2026 list is presented below, with each institution’s country or territory as stated in the official publication.

The institutions are spread across several regions, although North America and Asia account for a substantial share of the entries.

The United States has the largest representation, with universities including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, Yale University, Princeton University and the University of California system.

Asian institutions on the list include Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Seoul

National University, KAIST, Kyoto University and the National University of Singapore.

Australia is represented by the Australian National University, Monash University, the University of Melbourne, the University of

New South Wales and the University of Queensland, among others.

No university from Nigeria or any other African country features in the 2026 publication.

Full list of 82 universities

1. Aarhus University — Denmark
2. Australian National University (ANU) — Australia
3. Boston University — United States
4. Brown University — United States
5. California Institute of Technology (Caltech) — United States
6. Carnegie Mellon University — United States
7. City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) — Hong Kong
8. Columbia University — United States
9. Cornell University — United States
10. Delft University of Technology — Netherlands
11. Duke University — United States
12. EPFL – École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne — Switzerland
13. ETH Zurich — Switzerland
14. Fudan University — China
15. Harbin Institute of Technology — China
16. Harvard University — United States
17. Heidelberg University (Universität Heidelberg) — Germany
18. Institut Polytechnique de Paris — France
19. Johns Hopkins University — United States
20. Karolinska Institute — Sweden
21. Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) — South Korea
22. KU Leuven — Belgium
23. Kyoto University — Japan
24. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) — United States
25. McGill University — Canada
26. Monash University — Australia
27. Nanjing University — China
28. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) — Singapore
29. National University of Singapore (NUS) — Singapore
30. New York University (NYU) — United States
31. Northwestern University — United States
32. Ohio State University, Columbus — United States
33. Peking University — China
34. Princeton University — United States
35. PSL University (Paris Sciences et Lettres) — France
36. Purdue University – West Lafayette — United States
37. Seoul National University — South Korea
38. Shanghai Jiao Tong University — China
39. Sorbonne University — France
40. Stanford University — United States
41. Technical University of Munich — Germany
42. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) — Hong Kong
43. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University — Hong Kong
44. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology — Hong Kong
45. The University of Hong Kong — Hong Kong
46. The University of Melbourne — Australia
47. The University of New South Wales (UNSW) — Australia
48. The University of Queensland — Australia
49. The University of Texas at Austin — United States
50. The University of Tokyo — Japan
51. Tsinghua University — China
52. Université Paris-Saclay (Paris-Saclay University) — France
53. University of Amsterdam — Netherlands
54. University of Bonn — Germany
55. University of British Columbia — Canada
56. University of California, Berkeley (UCB) — United States
57. University of California, Irvine — United States
58. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) — United States
59. University of California, San Diego (UCSD) — United States
60. University of California, Santa Barbara — United States
61. University of Chicago — United States
62. University of Copenhagen — Denmark
63. University of Groningen — Netherlands
64. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — United States
65. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor — United States
66. University of Minnesota — United States
67. University of Munich (LMU Munich) — Germany
68. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — United States
69. University of Pennsylvania — United States
70. University of Science and Technology of China — China
71. University of Southern California — United States
72. University of Sydney — Australia
73. University of Toronto — Canada
74. University of Washington — United States
75. University of Wisconsin-Madison — United States
76. University of Zurich — Switzerland
77. Uppsala University — Sweden
78. Vanderbilt University — United States
79. Washington University in St Louis — United States
80. Yale University — United States
81. Yonsei University — listed as Japan in the Home Office table
82. Zhejiang University — China