A �5m three-year worldwide marketing campaign has begun, to attract more international students to the UK.

Higher education in the UK has been 'branded' using the talents of a top advertising agency and is being 'sold' through British Council offices around the world.

The prime minister has set targets to increase the numbers of overseas students attending UK universities and further education colleges and the marketing campaign is regarded as an important step in attempting to hit these targets.

By 2002, Tony Blair wants an extra 50,000 overseas students in universities in the UK, an increase which would represent an annual �500m contribution to the higher education sector.

He also wants another 25,000 international students in further education colleges, which would contribute an extra �200m annually to the sector.

Practical measures

When he set these targets last year, it was announced that the drive for more overseas students would be led by a "re-branding" exercise for UK universities.

Currently, among English-speaking countries, universities in the UK have a 17% share of the total number of overseas students, compared with 68% studying in the United States. Australia and Canada are the other main competitors.

The marketing campaign is supported by practical measures to make it easier for overseas students to attend UK universities, including allowing overseas students to take part-time jobs, and an increase in the number of scholarships.

The Foreign Office minister, Patricia Scotland, said education in the UK represented "quality, dynamism and diversity".

"We are also streamlining the entry clearance procedures at our embassies and missions overseas, making it easier for genuine students to come and study here," she said.

'Cutting edge'

Launching the campaign under its slogan "the best you can be", the higher education minister Tessa Blackstone said a UK education was "second to none".

"We offer cutting-edge and world-leading research opportunities, internationally recognised degrees and relevant high-quality, high-standard training," she said, speaking at King's College London.

Research into what potential students thought of the UK, in preparation for the campaign, found three key factors were important when choosing a country, but in which the UK was felt to be weak: the cost of living, the ease of working during the course and the ease of staying on to work afterwards.

There were positive stereotypes: they saw the UK as "an icon of classic excellence in education". Oxford and Cambridge were "names to conjure with".

Stereotypes

The British sense of fair play and moderation appealed to them, and they had been taught to admire the quality of British teachers and the very personal teaching style in the educational system.

But there were negative sides to these feelings: excellence can lead to complacency and the level of investment in education in Britain, especially in equipment, was seen to be inadequate.

The British people themselves could be seen as being "as cold as their climate", the researchers reported.

Hollywood, the main reference point, portrayed British people as loveably eccentric, but also as "pompous stuffed shirts who are complacent within their rigid class system".

Against this, Blair's Britain represented a move towards a more outward-looking, modern-minded country.

Competitive edge

The campaign has been welcomed by the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals of the UK universities (CVCP).

"Universities work hard to market themselves abroad," said its chief executive, Diana Warwick.

"I'm certain that the new brand will offer us a further advantage in the competitive education market.

"CVCP, with others in the sector, have for some years been emphasising the urgent need to tackle the complexity and time-consuming nature of the current visa regime.

"We're delighted that government has heard universities' call. The new rules should help to recruit more international students."

Baroness Warwick repeated a plea for more government funding of higher education.

"It is essential that international students' expectations are met by a positive experience once they reach the UK," she said.

"This will only be possible if the resources are available to maintain the high quality teaching and learning facilities and staff of the highest calibre, and to maintain the top flight research record of UK universities".