Band 4+: The graph below shows number of students from the US, the UK and Australia who studied in universities in other countries from 2002 to 2007. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

The line graph compares changes in the number of people studying abroad in three countries over the period of six years. Overall, the figure for students in the UK showed the downward trend while the US and Australian initially experienced a decline then returned to the original mark between 2002 and 2007.

To be more specific, in 2002 the number of students in Australia and the US who studied overseas were 10,000 and 50,000 respectively. Following this, Australia’s data went down sharply to below 10,000 over the next two years. In the meantime, there were approximately 45,000 students in the US who studied in a foreign country. During 2005 – 2007, both figures for the US and Australia described a rapid surge and came back to its 2002 level of 50,000 and 10,000 students respectively.

In early 2002, 30,000 students in the UK chose to study abroad. However, it dramatically decreased to more than 25,000 in 2004 and hit the lowest point at the end of the period, about 20,000 students.