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 Aarhus University — Denmark Australian National University (ANU) — Australia Boston University — United States Brown University — United States California Institute of Technology (Caltech) — United States Carnegie Mellon University — United States City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) — Hong Kong Columbia University — United States Cornell University — United States Delft University of Technology — Netherlands Duke University — United States EPFL – École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne — Switzerland ETH Zurich — Switzerland Fudan University — China Harbin Institute of Technology — China Harvard University — United States Heidelberg University (Universität Heidelberg) — Germany Institut Polytechnique de Paris — France Johns Hopkins University — United States Karolinska Institute — Sweden Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) — South Korea KU Leuven — Belgium Kyoto University — Japan Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) — United States McGill University — Canada Monash University — Australia Nanjing University — China Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) — Singapore National University of Singapore (NUS) — Singapore New York University (NYU) — United States Northwestern University — United States Ohio State University, Columbus — United States Peking University — China Princeton University — United States PSL University (Paris Sciences et Lettres) — France Purdue University – West Lafayette — United States Seoul National University — South Korea Shanghai Jiao Tong University — China Sorbonne University — France Stanford University — United States Technical University of Munich — Germany The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) — Hong Kong The Hong Kong Polytechnic University — Hong Kong The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology — Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong — Hong Kong The University of Melbourne — Australia The University of New South Wales (UNSW) — Australia The University of Queensland — Australia The University of Texas at Austin — United States The University of Tokyo — Japan Tsinghua University — China Université Paris-Saclay (Paris-Saclay University) — France University of Amsterdam — Netherlands University of Bonn — Germany University of British Columbia — Canada University of California, Berkeley (UCB) — United States University of California, Irvine — United States University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) — United States University of California, San Diego (UCSD) — United States University of California, Santa Barbara — United States University of Chicago — United States University of Copenhagen — Denmark University of Groningen — Netherlands University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — United States University of Michigan-Ann Arbor — United States University of Minnesota — United States University of Munich (LMU Munich) — Germany University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — United States University