Wanted: Foreigners; Universities are competing to attract the best, brightest and richest students.

Byline: Ginanne Brownell (With Akiko Kashiwagi in Tokyo)

Students who want to obtain their degrees abroad have never had more options. For decades, the best, brightest and richest typically chose between Oxbridge and America's top universities. No longer. Recognizing the windfall that foreign students bring, countries including New Zealand, South Africa, the Netherlands and Japan have begun stepping up efforts to attract them.

They're fighting over a big pie. Of the estimated $30 billion international-education market, the United States earns about $13 billion. In Britain, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has said that education is the country's fastest-growing source of export income. UNESCO estimates that more than 2.5 million students study overseas each year, and that number is "definitely growing," says Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice president of the Institute of International Education. By 2025, 7.5 million students are expected to seek education outside their home countries.

With tighter visa restrictions and high fees creating obstacles for foreign students in America and Britain, other countries are reaching out. The Netherlands now teaches more than 50 percent of its master's programs in English, and has boosted recruitment efforts abroad. "With the government funding educational-information centers and a strong presence at international student fairs, this is a ...