MPs have called for steps to be taken to encourage more students from the UK to study in other countries.
In a report published on Sunday, the Commons education committee also argued that high quality education was essential to attract international students to the UK.
Recommending that the government and the British Council work with universities to build partnerships, the MPs said that recruiting students must not be based on "short term gains in fee income".
The government should work with the private sector to fund a foundation offering scholarships, the committee said.
And, claiming the distinction between full-time and part-time students had become "so blurred as to be no longer sustainable", they called on the government to review fee support arrangements for part-time students.
Committee chairman Barry Sheerman said: "Collaboration and partnership between institutions and individuals in the UK higher education sector and their counterparts in countries such as India and China are vitally important."
"It is clear that they bring significant educational, cultural and economic benefits to universities and to the country more generally."
He stressed the need for international relationships in higher education to be "sustainable" and for time to be spent "in building links", which would "reap rich rewards in the long term".
"Encouraging flows of students both to and from this country should be a fundamental part of this process," Sheerman added.
"Key decision makers in China believe that the time is ripe for a major growth in collaborative research between the UK and China and this could lead to a massive increase in research funding for UK universities."
