LURING international students to Barnsley has not been as easy as expected, with only a handful coming over rather than the 100 first anticipated.

Barnsley College revealed its ambitious plans to sell the town to the world and move into the marketplace for international students about three years ago.

With its sights firmly set on a lucrative China, a delegation was sent over to try and attract students to the town.

But college principal Colin Booth says unfortunately it hasn't been as easy as expected, despite spending about £300,000 developing the international department.

"The reality is we started with a view of trying to recruit international students and that's been much more difficult than we thought," he said.

"Not least because the government changed all of the rules and made it much harder for people to get student visas.

"There are only six international students at the moment.

"The original plan said we would have 100 by now and that didn't work out as well as we thought but it doesn't mean it will not work long term."