LONDON, June 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A survey conducted by the British Council has found that Muslim students wishing to study in Britain has decreased since September 11, the Washington Post reported Monday, June 24.

The survey found that in some Islamic countries the proportion of students intending to start courses in Britain had halved since the September attacks.

Research for Connecting Futures, a government-backed project to tackle the “gulf of understanding” between Britain and Muslim countries, follows a drop of up to 15 per cent in Arab tourists visiting the country, the paper said.

According to the paper, when researchers asked 5,000 students aged 15-25 in countries with a large Muslim population where they would prefer to study, they found that those who chose Britain first had dropped from 32% to 22%, compared to a similar survey two years ago.

Those wanting to study in the U.S. had dropped from 49% to 35%.

This trend could jeopardize Tony Blair’s ambition to boost overseas earnings from higher education with foreign recruitment drives. Substantial declines were recorded among students in Egypt and Malaysia, with only half as many opting for Britain.

The two countries are among the largest providers of foreign students: some 2,000 people a year between them, the paper said.

Countries that have been less associated with the attacks grew more popular. The number who cited Australia, Canada and Japan as their first choices rose from 11% to 26%. However, the U.S. and Britain remained the first and second most popular destinations respectively.

Of the seven countries surveyed, Egypt, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, about 3,000 students accepted places at British universities this year.

Institutions have turned to foreign students to boost their income, with fees ranging from £5,000 to £12,000 a year. As a result, the number of non-E.U. undergraduates rose by 20% this year to 17,365, out of a total population of 322,000, the Post reported.

Patrick Spaven, the head of research and evaluation at the British Council, said that many conflicting factors were affecting the recruitment of Muslims.

“The students mentioned the British and American military action in Afghanistan and support for the Israeli administration as reasons to dislike the countries, but they appeared torn between their opinion of the governments and their desire to ‘cash in’ on their strong economies,” he said.

Alan Smithers, Professor of Education and Employment at the University of Liverpool, said that a drop in Muslim students could damage the sector.

“Universities have been very cash-strapped in recent years,” he said. “As a result, they have become increasingly reliant on overseas fees. It’s big business, and they would be hit badly if one of the sources dried up. There is a very healthy ethnic mix in the universities, and it would be very sad if the events of September 11 affected that.”

Worth mentioning is that the U.S. administration announced in May 2002 that there will be a counting and registration processes of all foreign students coming to the U.S. to study, so they could be under tight surveillance to be sure they are not terrorists.