THE UK is giving the US a run for its money as international students’ favourite place to study .

A study of 11,000 students by i-graduate, a research firm, indicates that 60 per cent think of the US as being “very attractive” compared with the UK’s 52 per cent rating. But on the broader “attractive or very attractive” rating, the UK sneaks ahead with 95 per cent deeming it so, compared with the US’s 93 per cent. One of the main reasons given for the UK’s high ranking in the study is the perception that it is a safe place to study, Times Higher Education (Jan 31) reports.

While the UK and US rank as the most expensive countries in which to study, students think that they have a better chance of getting a visa for the UK than for the US.

“It appears that the UK is beginning to challenge the supremacy of the US in terms of popularity among prospective students. However, this might simply be a sign that the US is losing more ground than the UK to emerging smaller competitors, who are collectively increasing their share of the international student intake,” the report says.

Lest UK universities rest on their laurels, Pat Killingley, of the British Council, cautions: “This survey reinforces the UK as a leader in higher education, but fierce competition from the US and Australia shows how essential the industry is on the global stage.”

Lord Dearing, author of a 1998 report on Higher Education, is certainly not complacent. He says that the country needs to smash the Government’s target of getting at least 40 per cent of the population educated to degree level by 2020.

“Something as imprecise as over 40 per cent will not do... the Germans and Americans are at 40 per cent already,” he says. “Forty per cent would leave us where we have been for over a century – playing catchup but never doing so.”

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