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Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.UNESCO is a major collector and disseminator of statistical data on education and related subjects. Its statistical activities are aimed at providing relevant, reliable and current information for development and policy-making purposes, both at the national and international levels, and the production of reliable statistical indicators for education. These indicators cover four main areas: educational population; access and participation; the efficiency and effectiveness of education; human and financial resources. The <i>UNESCO Education Database</i> covers a wide range of these areas, at four main educational levels: pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary, in accordance with the <i>International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED)</i> system. This system provides standard definitions for each of the four levels of education examined. UNESCO collects and collates education data according to these definitions from approximately 200 countries, and compiles them into the <i>Education Database</i> time series, which is published annually.The <i>Foreign Students Statistics</i> form part of the main <i>UNESCO Education Database</i>, but are collected separately, from a smaller number of participating countries, resulting in some structural differences. UNESCO define a `foreign student' as `a person enrolled at an institution of tertiary education in a country of which he/she is not a permanent resident'. The student's country of origin is defined as `the country in which the student is permanently resident (home country)'. However, most member states included in the dataset have established their statistics on the basis of the student's original nationality rather than permanency of residence in the host country. UNESCO have noted some concerns about the quality of the data where these criteria differ, and this...