The increase in foreign students in countries such as the US, the UK and France suggests that the international ‘education industry’ is growing in importance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the empirical determinants of international student mobility. A secondary purpose is to give tentative policy suggestions to host country, source country and also to provide some recommendations to students who want to study abroad. Using pooled cross-sectional time series data for the US over the time period 1993-2006, we estimate an econometric model of enrolment rates of foreign students in the US. Our results suggest that tuition fees, US federal support of education, and the size of the ‘young’ generation of source countries have a significant influence on international student mobility. We also consider other factors that may be relevant in this context.