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The international reputation of Britain's higher education institutions has always attracted learners from abroad. But in recent years the numbers have ballooned.

While that increase has brought it has also brought financial benefits at a time when government funding for higher education is being squeezed.

A recent study found that there are almost 19 thousand foreign students studying in Wales.

Sixty per cent are international students from outside the European Union paying the very highest levels of fee of up to 10 thousand pounds a year.

Foreign students contribute £237 million a year to the Welsh economy, which is equivalent to 0.5% of Wales' Gross Domestic Product, making them more valuable than the agricultural sector.

According to the former MP and higher education minister, Dr Kim Howells, those numbers are likely to grow further still.

"They pay the maximum amount of fees and there is no question of a government subsidy. It's going to become more market orientated as the government makes cuts to funding."

But there are concerns that changes to the rules regulating foreign student visas - brought in by the Westminster Government as part of a wider package to curb immigration - may effect numbers.

Dr Peter Noyes is chair of the Welsh International Consortium, an umbrella organisation representing all of Wales' universities which promotes Wales as a destination for foreign students.

"It's not clear precisely the arrangements that will be put in place at UK borders to allow students entry into the country," he tells Eye on Wales. ""It has been difficult this year."

"It's only the hard work of our international officers that has enabled us to keep up and extend that recruitment and ensure that we continue with the significant contribution to the Welsh economy - and to the societies that international students belong to while they're here."