The chairmen of five parliamentary committees have written to David Cameron to urge him to remove overseas student numbers from migration targets.

BBC: PM urged to rethink student visas policy

However, it is not yet known whether any of the suspects arrested on Wednesday applied for their overseas student visas after September 2007.

BBC: Borders row after terror arrests

Ministers have been urged to remove foreign students from net migration statistics to allow the UK to continue to expand its share of the lucrative overseas student market.

BBC: UK Politics

Both argued overseas students should be reclassified so that they would not count towards migration limits, to allow the UK to continue to expand its share of the overseas student market.

BBC: UK universities take four of six top global rankings

The Office for National Statistics said this was "largely due" to a decline in the number of foreign students despite an increase in the number of arrivals from China - the UK's largest overseas student market.

BBC: PM urged to rethink student visas policy

There have been warnings about the impact of the high-profile case of London Metropolitan University being barred from recruiting overseas students - and concerns about difficulties over student visas.

BBC: University applications down by 8%

Universities UK also said the institutions set entry requirements for courses, but these could be relaxed in certain circumstances - for both home and overseas students - for example, if a student showed potential to succeed on the course.

BBC: Willetts warns universities over foreign student grades