Whistleblower warning on degrees

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

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.

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%.