Comment by graemep

Thanks, that is really interesting. I know Sri Lanka well but the people I know/have known over the years in other Asian countries are not a good sample. For one thing they are mostly people I met in the UK (mostly in London at that).

I have seen people not fully understanding the differences in quality of British universities and the less good universities do make use of it. Its not entirely successful - Oxford is able to charge £60k a year in tuition fees for computer science, whereas Oxford Brookes charges £17k and I think that reflects people knowing its not worth paying the former for the latter.

The UK can also be quite an expensive place to live so the total cost can be quite a bit more. Some subjects can be a lot more expensive, especially at the better universities.

I do not think the immigration backlash in the UK has much to do with students as its almost entirely focused on illegal immigrants and very little is coming from students who tend to be liberal on immigration.

> The same thing happened in China a decade ago as well.

A lot of Chinese students still coming here. That may just reflect the huge numbers studying abroad.

I also think many people study abroad and miss the opportunity to get to know another culture - a lot stick to mostly socialising with people from their home country.

> Absolutely! Though comfort would be rated much higher than safety.

Yes, I can see that would be true! Safety can also be an excuse for buying a more expensive car without admitting your motive is prestige!