STUDENTS from around the globe are flocking to study at Blackburn College.

The level of international students study- ing in the town has risen 35per cent.

Students from as far as China, Nepal, Hong Kong, and Vietnam, are coming to study, in a move expected to generate ext-ra income for the town, and the college.

International students typically pay more than double the tuition fees of British, or EU students. Financial analysts also claim that every international student who comes to Britain is worth around £20,000 per year to the local economy.

Blackburn UCBC now has 100 intern-ational students from more than a dozen countries outside the European Union.

They are choosing a range of courses, including A-Levels, Diplomas, HND/ HNCs, degrees and Masters, and benefit from extra English support included with every course.

The college’s senior international dev-elopment manager Dr Allan Lawrence said: “In the last four years we have worked hard in developing partn-erships in different parts of the world, We have links in Qatar and agents in Russia, China and Vietnam, where we work with various coll-eges.”

He said the International Programme was beneficial both to the overseas stud-ents and those already based here. “We want all our stud-ents to forge friendships and links which can enable fur-ther global opportunities, including employment.

“Overseas recruitment ag- encies have reacted posit-ively to the 100per cent pass rate at A-Level of the stud-ents from China last year, with all of the students achieving A and A* grades.”

A-Level student Shuting Shen, from China, said: “I have loved my time at Black- burn. I have lived with a host family, who have welcomed me and they have made it easy for me to study. The courses have been really enj-oyable and I am very pleased with my results.”