The UK is expected to be overtaken by Australia as the second most popular country in the world for international students, according to researchers, who warned Brexit could have a further impact.

While the US remains the most popular destination for overseas students, recent trends indicate that the UK could be pushed into third place - if it hasn't already.

A paper published by the Centre for Global Higher Education shows that between 2011 and 2015, the numbers of international students going to the US for higher education rose by around 198,000 (27.9%), while UK numbers rose by about 11,000 (2.6%).

Over the same period, the numbers going to Australia increased by almost 32,000 (12%), according to the research, which is based on an analysis of UNESCO data on international students

Additional figures for Australia show a rise of around 41,000 in 2016, compared to 2015 (about 14%).

The paper says that further figures from Australia indicate a growth in numbers again in 2017 and 2018.

"In 2015, the UK received 136,000 more students than Australia," it says. "But when full figures for 2018 are available they will show that if the UK is still ahead of Australia the gap is only slight. In fact, Australia may have already passed UK."