Tuition fees are encouraging more UK students to study at top US universities such as Harvard, it was suggested this week.

Harvard 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ's UK undergraduate application numbers are increasing, from about 150 ten years ago to 250 today. Cornell 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ has seen the number of applicants from Britain grow from 97 in 2005 to 131 in 2006.

Janet Irons, UK admissions representative at Harvard 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, said that the decision by UK universities to charge ?1,000 a year from 1998 and up to ?3,000 a year from this autumn had made students look at what was available in a global higher education market.

Ms Irons said: "My guess is that the many media articles over the past few years about the UK education system and top-up fees have alerted UK students to not automatically assume that the UK system is their best and only option. More choice is a good thing.

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"We have been making extra efforts over the past decade to reach out to top candidates in the UK."

Wendy Scharer, senior associate director of undergraduate admissions at Cornell, said: "We have been doing a bit less traditional recruitment and more reaching out to prospective students electronically, including those outside the US."

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A Universities UK spokesperson responded: "We often hear much speculation about UK students being attracted to various US higher education institutions, with a number of high-profile examples.

"But the fact remains that the figures are comparatively small and have remained steady over the past few years."