According to UCAS, there was an 11.4% increase in undergraduate applications from the Middle East in 2012-2013. This compares with around 8% from both Asia and Africa.

Bell, an academic pathway provider, said it predicted growing competition among Middle Eastern students to secure top UK university places in 2013 would lead to parallel demand for its courses.

“The fact that the UK is well represented with branch campuses in places like Dubai will help to keep the reputation of the UK high”

“With the increasing competition and rising standards to secure places…overseas students are experiencing a growing pressure to reach the expected level of English and to hold relevant academic qualifications before studying in the UK,” marketing manager Natalie Dawe said.

The interest owes much to government drives to fill skills gaps in countries with increasingly young populations, such as UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. In Saudi Arabia, where unemployment tops 12% and roughly nine in ten employees of private firms are expatriates, the government is calling for 30-35% of employees at bigger companies to be Saudi.

Scholarships to study at top universities abroad are also driving the trend, Vincenzo Raimo, director of the International Office at The University of Nottingham, told The PIE News. “The MENA region has long been important to UK universities. We have traditionally received large numbers of sponsored students from Saudi Arabia, Oman and the smaller Gulf countries.”

He added Libyan student numbers were on the up again, while the greatest percentage growth in the last three years had come from Iraq. “This year we welcomed 116 new Iraqi students, mostly at postgraduate level, an increase of 84% on the previous year, bringing the total to 140 students.”

According to UCAS, the top five applicant countries last year were Saudi Arabia, the United Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey. Attracting them, says The British Council, is the “strong history of UK education in the region” and Britain’s proximity to MENA–something that gives it an advantage over traditional first choice the USA.

But, Sally Ward, regional manager for higher education in the Middle East and North Africa region, said competition was increasing.

Countries like Malaysia are becoming “more aggressive in their marketing”

“Although countries like the US, Canada and Australia are clearly competitors, the fact that the UK is well represented with branch campuses in places like Dubai, as well as holding the recent Going Global Conference in the region, will help to keep the name and reputation of the UK high,” she said.

“This does however, need to be constantly worked at – especially as countries like Malaysia become more aggressive in their marketing.”

Others have identified the recruitment potential from MENA recently. In a study, World Education Services said that Saudi Arabia followed by Turkey would be among the most important “emerging” student recruitment markets for US universities over the next decade, as dependence China, India and South Korea became more risk prone.