A major investigation into the impact of international students on the UK's society and economy will be launched on Thursday.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd will task the Government's expert body on migration with carrying out the detailed assessment.
It will examine the effect both EU and non-EU students have on the labour market and economy while they are in the country.
The review will be announced as the Home Office publishes the first data compiled from exit checks, a system introduced in April 2015 to track the departure from Britain of more than 100 million air, rail and ferry travellers.
Ministers rolled out the regime to build a more complete picture of whether those who enter the UK leave when they are supposed to, and help immigration enforcement target those in the country illegally.
Any light that exit checks data sheds on the movements of overseas students is likely to come under close scrutiny, following questions over a large gap between estimates of arrivals and departures of foreign nationals who come to Britain to study.
The in-depth analysis of international students, to be carried out by the Migration Advisory Committee, will look at the impact of tuition fees and other spending by foreign students on the national, regional and local economies.
It will also consider the impact their recruitment has on the quality of education given to domestic students, with the committee asked to report back by September next year.
The Government says it is committed to keeping the doors open to genuine students, while cracking down on immigration abuse from poor quality institutions.
Ms Rudd said: "There is no limit to the number of genuine international students who can come to the UK to study and the fact that we remain the second most popular global destination for those seeking higher education is something to be proud of.
"We understand how important students from around the world are to our higher education sector, which is a key export for our country, and that's why we want to have a robust and independent evidence base of their value and the impact they have."
Last month it emerged that an official measure of the number of overseas ex-students leaving Britain was to be downgraded after a watchdog raised concerns it did not bear the weight of public scrutiny.
Focus has fallen on a gap between the estimated number of migrants who enter the UK to study and the number of former students leaving the country.
The difference - which averaged around 110,000 a year between 2012 and 2015 - fuelled questions over whether students were remaining in the country beyond the end of their courses, or whether the large-scale survey used to compile migration estimates was failing to capture departures.
Long-term immigration of students was approximately 136,000 last year, while an estimated 63,000 emigrated from the UK having originally come to the country to study.
The Government has come under pressure to remove students from the overall net migration target of 100,000, but Theresa May has resisted the calls.
Immigration minister Brandon Lewis said: "We have always been clear that our commitment to reducing net migration to sustainable levels does not detract from our determination to attract international students from around the world."
Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK, said: "We welcome the Government's commitment to a detailed examination of the net benefits of international students.
"This is an opportunity to build on the considerable evidence that shows that international students have a very positive impact on the UK economy and local communities."
Lord Green of Deddington, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: "The government are right to look at the impact of international student migration very carefully in the light of the latest statistics.
"For too long the higher education lobby have had the field for themselves. The government will now be able to formulate policy on the basis of more wide-ranging evidence."
The latest official migration estimates will be published on Thursday.