http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7358528.stm


Whistleblower warning on degrees

By Sean Coughlan
BBC News education reporter

June 17, 2008

Degrees are being awarded to overseas students who speak almost no English, claims a whistleblowing academic.

The academic, at a world-famous UK university, says postgraduate degrees are awarded to students lacking in the most basic language skills.

There are concerns that financial pressures to recruit overseas students for cash rather than quality could threaten the credibility of degrees.

But Universities UK says there are "rigorous" checks on standards.

The number of overseas students taking higher degree courses, such as masters and doctorates, has soared - rising more than eightfold since the mid-1990s.

More than 60% of higher degree students are now from outside the UK.

Overseas students have been seen as a lucrative source of revenue - with the Higher Education Policy Institute calculating payments to universities of almost £1.5bn per year in fees plus £2.2bn in living costs.

Language doubts

But the whistleblowing academic, who wants to remain anonymous, describes a postgraduate system in which lecturers are expected to teach courses to overseas students who have only the most limited English.

These students, who pay an average of about £19,000 per year, will in theory have passed English language proficiency tests, but there are questions about the reliability of such evidence.

"For example, last week I tried to speak to a student who could not understand a simple request; in the end, we had to resort to pen and paper," writes the academic, who works at a leading Russell Group university.

"Someone who needs to communicate using pictures is, to say the least, unlikely to have passed the language proficiency test by themselves."

Describing the frustration of fellow lecturers, this academic says that once students have arrived at the university, often to study for a one-year masters course, it becomes difficult for them to be failed or sent home.

While there is intense competition for undergraduate places at the university, the academic says that it is much easier for overseas students to find places on taught postgraduate courses.

It is also unusual for students to fail postgraduate courses - so much so that there are no national figures. The Higher Education Statistics Agency says that its record-keeping on degree levels "does not explicitly contain the concept of 'failing' a course".

The overall category for those who leave, drop out or fail, known as "left with no award" is 10.9%.

'Eroded'

There are concerns among senior figures in higher education about the consequences of the financial pressures on universities to recruit overseas students.

HIGHER DEGREES 1995: 8,689 UK students; 6,912 overseas students 2001: 27,985 UK students; 30,760 overseas students 2007: 34,600 UK students; 14,300 EU students; 44,225 non-EU overseas students Source: HESA

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham and an expert on higher education, warns of the need to protect the reputation of UK university degrees.

"In the long run, the perception of a degree will change," he said.

"If international employers find that when they're recruiting from a British university and finding that the student cannot speak English and has no sign of the necessary capabilities – then the reputation will be gradually eroded.

"Once that has happened it will be very difficult to reverse."

Prof Smithers says these problems are a reflection of the changing nature of universities. Are they academic institutions or businesses?

"In the past, the system only had to consider the question of maintaining standards – now that they are run like businesses it changes the way they think about recruiting students and awarding degrees.

"It's a very important issue - it's the juncture of trusting universities and their need to secure their income stream.

"Teaching home undergraduates isn't cost-effective, so they are increasingly looking to overseas students for income."

'Low standard'

But once students have been recruited - and they are not able to carry out the academic work - Prof Smithers says that this creates a dilemma for universities.

"It's a difficult situation, when you might have students who arrive as part of a contract with an overseas government, such as training civil servants, and you find that they are of a low standard.

"What sort of standards do you apply? Do you fail all of them?"

And Prof Smithers says it is difficult for academics to protest.

"The concern is often unspoken. Universities are more centrally driven, it's quite hard even for heads of department and deans of faculty to stand against that."

He highlights how attempts to help students with inadequate English can create other problems. If they have to use translators to produce essays, it makes it difficult to assess the quality of the original work.

The worry about one-year masters degrees can also come from the customers, says Bahram Bekhradnia of the Higher Education Policy Institute - who talks about "mutterings round the bar".

"The concern about international students and their language ability is actually two way.

"I have heard examples of foreign governments saying they are concerned that in a year students may spend so much time getting their English up to scratch that they don't learn much of the subject matter.

"The Chinese ministry for example has stopped supporting students on masters courses."

The British Council in Beijing confirms that the "ministry of education support (in the form of scholarships) is now focused on PhD students and not Masters".

Almost a third of complaints received by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education relate to taught postgraduate courses - and more than a third were from overseas students.

Feeder schools

A survey of plagiarism published this month found that postgraduate students were disproportionately likely to have been caught cheating.

The UCU lecturers' union is also concerned about another aspect of overseas recruitment - in which private English-language colleges become partners of universities, recruiting students overseas and then acting as feeders for university courses.

This is a form of "privatising" access to universities, says UCU spokesman Dan Ashley.

"We have a proud reputation, but mustn't tarnish it for the sake of making a quick buck," he said.

Glasgow Caledonian University is planning a partnership with the privately-run INTO group, which would see INTO recruiting overseas students and providing a foundation course, in partnership with the university, on the university campus.

Students who have completed this foundation course could then transfer to the second year of a Glasgow Caledonian degree course.

This partnership, with an intended capacity of up to 600 overseas students per year, is being opposed by a campaign group of staff, including law lecturer Nick McKerrell.

"It shows higher education is being sold off," says Dr McKerrell.

The university rejects this, saying it is a joint venture which will bring financial and cultural benefits, without compromising standards, which will "help to safeguard the university's future in an increasingly competitive environment".

A spokesman for INTO says its arrangements are "not privatisation but a joint venture with it and the university as equal partners".

Universities UK, the body representing higher education leaders, also rejects the idea that there has been any lowering of standards.

A spokesman says that "all academic programmes in the UK are subject to the UK's rigorous and independent quality assurance procedures".

"Talented students from around the world contribute immeasurably to the intellectual vitality of UK higher education and make a critical contribution to our international standing.

"UK degrees are recognised around the world as being high quality and lead to excellent employment opportunities."

A spokeswoman for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills said it was up to individual institutions to monitor the quality of their courses and for the sector's representative body, Universities UK, to comment on the issue.