SCOTLAND'S educational institutions are rightly famed the world over, their reputation being hard-won and zealously protected.

Over the years our universities have vied with each other to attract fee-paying students from abroad, but now they are increasingly exporting their knowledge and expertise overseas.

The Edinburgh-based Heriot-Watt University has bases in Dubai and Malaysia, Musselburgh's Queen Margaret University has a campus in Singapore, while Glasgow Caledonian offers courses in New York.

As we reveal today, the University of Aberdeen plans to continue this trend, having commissioned research into the possibility of setting up a satellite campus in South Korea for the teaching of postgraduate courses in the oil and gas industry.

As other nations build up their own higher education systems, it is perhaps inevitable that more of their young people will elect to study on home ground. Our universities are wise to be proactive in seeking a share of this growing market.

Such moves can only boost our international standing, in what is surely a valuable lesson in modern economics.