A , which analyses Higher Education Statistics Agency figures and Home Office data on student visa issuances, finds that the UK¡¯s market share of international students will continue to decline in 2014-15 amid continued US domination, as it has for the past three years.

¡°The good news for UK higher education is that the number of new international enrolments grew in 2013-14 for the first time in three years,¡± the report says. ¡°The bad news is that the UK continues to lose out to rival host destination countries, particularly ߣߣÊÓƵ and the US.¡±

There was an increase of 4.6 per cent in the number of new international students enrolling in the UK in 2013-14 compared with the previous year ¨C a total of 2,835.

The UK¡¯s overall competitiveness may have ¡°simply returned to its long-term equilibrium¡±, the report speculates, pointing out that the rapid growth seen from 2009 to 2011 was ¡°ultimately unsustainable¡±. If this is indeed the case, a recent three-year decline in market share is ¡°a course correction rather than a sign of lagging competitiveness¡±, it adds.

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ߣߣÊÓƵ has shown strong growth in its new international enrolments over the past two years. The country reversed a three-year recruitment decline in 2013, registered a modest increase of 2.6 per cent and saw a 12.3 per cent rise the following year. However, this recovery means the country has only just returned to its 2009 recruitment levels.

According to Jeremy Chan, the British Council¡¯s head of research and consultancy in East Asia and author of the report, despite this surge it is the US sector that offers ¡°the greatest source of competition for the UK sector over the long term¡±. The US has outpaced all other major markets by a considerable margin since 2009, the report says.

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¡°That the UK higher education sector returned to growth in 2013-14 is¡­cause for cautious optimism,¡± Mr Chan concludes, ¡°but it remains unclear whether this growth was a result of favourable policy changes in the UK offer or simply the result of a rising tide lifting all boats¡±.

chris.parr@tesglobal.com