The article focuses on the current developments and challenges in the international education sphere. The author analyses the UK position in the global international education market and the approaches to internationalization of higher education adopted by the UK governments in the last twenty five years, looks at the impact of recent social, economic and political transformations and identifies key contradictions. Since the late 1990s, UK leaders and governmental departments view education export as an important economic sector and also as a source of national soft power. Despite the lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, the aftermath of Brexit, and recent socio-economic challenges, the UK retains the second place after the US in the global higher education market, attracting a substantial share of international students. Nevertheless, new economic and political factors and imbalances have influenced the sector. Overreliance on inflow of international students in the context of unfavourable social and economic situation as well as a demand for stricter immigration rules from parts of the society and new visa regulations introduced by Conservative Government led by R. Sunak create new risks for some universities and for the sector in general. The author notes that the crisis phenomena affecting education exports reflect the larger challenges facing the United Kingdom in today's changing world: new demographic trends, a relative decline in the economic and political influence of Western countries, and negative trends in the socio-economic and political spheres. The conclusions are offered on the probable scenarios of further development of education exports.