The UK international student market have reached unprecedented levels in recent years.

UNESCO reports that there are currently 34,000 UK students studying abroad - higher than at any other time. UK have recorded year-on-year increases in students studying abroad since 2008. Various studies have suggested increases of around 20-23% in the last five years alone, for the UK.

UK student participation in the Erasmus programme has increased every year since 2007, and recently Fulbright USA published statistics confirming that the UK is now the largest European source of international students at US universities, having overtaken Germany and Turkey this year.

This remarkable growth trend can be attributed to a number of key drivers.

UK Tuition Fees

Firstly, and most notably, the cap on tuition fees that British universities could charge grew almost threefold to GBP 9,000 per annum, from September 2012. Not surprisingly this raised major concerns about affordability, and domestic applications have suffered as a result. Value for money in studying at a local university is increasingly being questioned, with many UK students opting to studying abroad.

UK students can choose a European destination, stay relatively close-to-home, pay a lot less, study in their native language, and have an international degree from a similarly ranked institution than they would encounter back home. Further, studying as far abroad as the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand is no longer significantly more than the cost of staying put.

Career and Earnings

It is generally considered that studying abroad is the first step to building an international career. Given the increasingly difficult graduate employment market, currently prevailing in the UK, a period of time spent abroad has become a valuable addition to today's CV . The growing awareness of the importance of international exposure was also recently noted by a British Council study, which found that one-third of UK adults that had not spent time living or studying abroad felt that it had harmed their career prospects. Further, 54% believed that a lack of global experience was holding them back.

In addition, the CBI’s 2013 Changing the Pace report shows that 47% of employers surveyed expressed concern with UK graduates’ global competences and intercultural awareness, and 55% were dissatisfied with their foreign language skills, all of which have been shown to be highly sought after by employers.

It is quickly becoming common knowledge, amongst UK students, that those students who have undertaken an Erasmus programme are earning 20% more than their fellow-students who have not.

Attractive Opportunities Abroad

With the growing number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses being offered in English across Europe and Asia, universities on these continents are becoming a much more credible alternative to studying at home. Studying abroad in a foreign language has historically been the most challenging obstacle for UK and Irish students to overcome. Now, a growing number of highly-ranked, elite institutions all over the world are offering many of their programmes in English, with many more following suit.

An Appetite for Adventure

While most attribute the growing UK international student market to the hike in tuition fees, The Graduate Prospects survey found that for 33% of UK students studying abroad the main motivation for doing so, was actually an appetite for adventure. This would seem to support the growing number of UK students studying in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where the cost of travel ensures that the whole study-abroad experience is not necessarily less than at home. This key-motivating factor, meanwhile, provides hope of increased UK student numbers for institutions in Asia and the Middle East, which have not traditionally been recipients of students from these markets.