Foreign students: countries sending the most students to the UK

1. China

The country that sent the most students to the UK in 2010/11 by quite some margin is the world's largest – China. Some 67,325 Chinese students, up an enormous 18.1 per cent from the previous year's 56,990, were enrolled at UK universities last year. Jung Chang, the author of bestselling autobiography Wild Swans as well as 2005's Mao: The Unknown Story, left her homeland in the 1970s to seek a British education, enrolling at the University of York and completing a doctorate in linguistics in 1982.
2. India
39,090 Indian students studied at British universities last year, up 1.5 per cent from the 38,500 who did so in the previous year. Way back in 1889, Mahatma Gandhi made the same journey, travelling to London to study Law at UCL.
3. Nigeria
The only African country on our list – and unsurprisingly the continent's most populous – Nigeria sent 17,585 students to the UK for higher education in 2010/11, up 5.4 per cent from the previous academic year 16,680. Nigeria-born singer-songwriter Sade – who is still the top-earning British musician in America, comfortably beating Adele last year – studied at the Central St Martins College of Art and Design.
4. Ireland
The lack of a language barrier no doubt helps Ireland to be the most common European country of origin on this list, with 16,855 students crossing the Irish Sea to study in the United Kingdom last year, up 1.5 per cent from 16,595 in the previous year. But this sort of academic migration has been going on for centuries. George Bernard Shaw didn't just study in Britain, but actually co-founded a university: the London School of Economics.
5. Germany
Germany has more universities offering English-taught Master's than any other mainland European country, but that didn't prevent 16,265 Germans coming to the UK for higher education last year, a 5.4 per cent on the previous year's 15,425. In doing so they follow in the footsteps of Susanne Klatten – not the most famous name on the list, but almost certainly the richest. The billionaire BMW heiress and wealthiest woman in Germany holds a degree in marketing and management from the University of Buckingham.
6. USA
America may have some of the top universities in the world, but 15,555 of its citizens preferred to study in the United Kingdom last year, up 3.3 per cent from the 15,060 who did so the previous year. US alumni are extensive across many British institutions, but one who left quite an impression was former US President Bill Clinton, who as a 22-year-old earned a Rhodes scholarship to study postgraduate PPE at the University of Oxford in 1968.
7. Malaysia
The first non-European country on this list, Malaysia sent 13,900 students last year, though that's 1.1 per cent fewer than the 14,060 the previous year. Though relatively few will be coming to study women's shoes, they will be following in the expensive footsteps of designer Jimmy Choo, who was born in Penang but came to study at Cordwainer's Technical College (now a part of the London College of Fashion) in the 1980s.
8. France
The third EU country on this list, France sent 12,325 students across the Channelf for higher education here last year, though that figure was down 3.3. per cent from 13,780 in the previous year. Actress Eva Green followed that same route – born in Paris, the former Bond girl briefly studied at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London in 2002, where she met Bernando Bertolucci who cast her in The Dreamers.
9. Greece
11,630 Greek students were enrolled at British universities in 2010/11, down 1.3 per cent from 11,785 in the previous academic year. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington (formerly Stassinopolous), though now based in the US, made the same journey in the 1960s when she moved from her birthplace of Athens, Greece to study Economics at Girton College, Cambridge.
10. Cyprus
Cyprus was the tenth-most common country of origin for non-UK domiciled students at British universities in 2010/11, with 11,320 enrolled here – that's up 1.4 per cent from 11,160 the previous year. They follow in the footsteps of Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the Greek Cypriot-origin easyJet founder who went to the LSE to study economics in 1984.