There may not be a rush of students and faculty to our region, but the interest being displayed in Asia by the west is evident.

The European University Association (EUA), which represents and supports higher education institutions in 46 European countries, recently completed a survey (see graphic)which showed a dramatic increase in interest in Asia for the first time, outstripping the United States and Canada.

'There's a much greater interest in Asia - 59 per cent of member institutions - than there was before - 40 per cent four years ago,' EUA chief executive Lesley Wilson said.

'We do a trend study every two years for ourselves and the ministers of education in our region, and we ask 'who do you want to co-operate with the most?' And the big increase was for Asia.

'European universities still want to co-operate most with each other, but there was a big jump in the figures for Asia compared with a 2003 survey, with more than 70 per cent of institutions in Finland, France, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Britain now citing Asia as a priority.

'Whether it means that Asian universities are becoming more competitive, or whether it means that European universities are realising that they have to become more competitive, and one way is by trying to develop co-operation outside Europe - I imagine there's both elements to that particular equation.'

Ms Wilson recently returned from a visit to Malaysia and Singapore. 'We took a group of European leaders to these countries. They're interested in diversifying their co-operation across Southeast Asia, rather than just China, India or elsewhere. To me that's interesting,' she said.

'There's great interest in research co-operation, collaborative efforts at master and doctoral levels, organising exchanges of students and faculty, and at diversifying away from the United States, which has been the benchmark in a way for Europe.'

Ms Wilson said European and Asian universities were becoming more competitive 'but that makes them more interesting partners for each other'.

'This business of co-operation and competition is quite interesting.

'I've just returned from a summit of responsible associations for graduate education in Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and China, and we spent a lot of time talking about this,' she said.

'We were there because we wanted to learn from each other, but also to make our own universities more competitive, and that's our role from a European perspective.'

John Spinks, a senior adviser to the vice-chancellor at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), said he had seen little concrete evidence that showed overseas students preferred local universities - but that may be changing.

'We have conducted studies looking at students' preferences for degrees from particular universities, and the local universities do not come out high in comparison with the overseas educational institutions that have been in the market for many years, such as those in Australia, Canada, the US and Britain,' said Professor Spinks, who also chairs the Heads of Universities Committee (HUCOM) Standing Committee on Internationalisation, which co-ordinates the overseas recruitment activities of the eight University Grants Committee-funded institutions and looks at the internationalisation of the universities in Hong Kong.

'Students and their parents rarely considered Hong Kong universities as possible choices.'

Despite its low visibility as a place for higher education, Professor Spinks said Hong Kong had many reasons for being a place of choice for Asian students.

'It has several leading universities, as measured by rankings, research excellence or the development of a high-quality teaching and learning environment. HKU has been increasing its international student numbers over the past 10 years so there are more than 3,000 students on campus whose nationality is not Hong Kong,' Professor Spinks said.

'There are students from 58 different countries. So, while students and parents looking for an overseas university might not initially give Hong Kong universities any thought, we find in our recruitment work that they are very impressed when presented with the facts.

'In the most recent Times Higher Education Supplement rankings, HKU ranked No5 in the world for the internationalisation of its teaching staff.

'The evidence is becoming clear that once HKU is seriously considered, it does become a university of choice for students.'

Professor Spinks said there were many reasons for recruitment of international students, 'and the government has not yet made it clear whether it supports one of these more than the others'.

'This means that there is no co-ordinated strategy to seriously develop the concept of the 'educational hub', although the HUCOM Standing Committee is preparing a report on this,' he said.

Humphry Hung Hing-lap is a visiting fellow of Hong Kong Polytechnic University's management and marketing department. He has more than 20 years of experience in providing management education and training and has authored many books on career development and pursuing further education, including A Guide to MBA programmes.

'Most of the universities in Hong Kong are trying to recruit more students from outside, but there appears to be no significant increase in them coming to Hong Kong,' he said.

Dr Hung said universities in Southeast Asia should definitely be doing more to encourage international students, 'especially because when they graduate and go back to their own countries, they may come back and provide more opportunities for investment and trade - it's an advantage of these kinds of exchanges'.

'Some universities are in a very good position. Most universities are still on the way to gaining that worldwide recognition and ranking. But they are definitely coming of age, especially universities in the mainland, Hong Kong and Singapore, and it's a matter of time before we catch up with worldwide standards.'