The UK's international student scandal

Universities are enrolling overseas students who lack English language skills and other "basic requirements". Some of these students are unable to understand simple questions and need to use translation apps in lectures and seminars, said professors writing for the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) thinktank.

There "widespread silence" about the problem, said the anonymous professors, with cash-strapped higher education institutions seemingly willing to turn a blind eye to the shortcomings of overseas students, on whom they are increasingly reliant to stay afloat.

Pulling tricks

Tuition fees for English domestic students have not kept pace with inflation, representing "a real-terms cut in university funding", said the BBC. This makes foreign students an attractive financial prospect for universities. Fees for domestic undergraduate students in England are capped at £9,250, but there is no upper limit on tuition fees for overseas students. "You can charge a foreign student as much as they're willing to pay," the HEPI's Rose Stephenson told the broadcaster.

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Agents working for companies that prepare international students for English university now "target families abroad" who have plenty of money, a whistle-blower told the BBC. And there are question marks over how suitable many of these students are. Jo Grady from the University and College Union, which represents 120,000 lecturers and university staff, said it's an "open secret" that students who lack English skills still manage to join courses in the UK. "Tricks are pulled" to make sure they "pass the relevant language test", she told the BBC.

Around seven out of 10 students studying on master's courses in England are now from overseas. One postgraduate student from Iran told the broadcaster she was "shocked" to find many of her fellow students had limited English, and most students paid other people to do their coursework, or even to attend lectures for them. Many students had "bought assignments" from "essay mills" based overseas, she said, and although this practice is illegal in England, when she reported this to her tutor, he took no action.

Two anonymous professors at Russell Group institutions told the HEPI that "one-to-one supervision and feedback meetings" are "particularly excruciating" and they've both "regularly encountered students who are unable to understand simple questions" like "What have you read on this topic?".

Difficult decisions

The Home Office said it is reviewing English language assessments to ensure all international students have the necessary the skills to understand their course materials, and that those who do not "shouldn't expect a place at a UK university".

Universities UK – which represents 141 institutions – "rejects" the suggestion that overseas students are being allowed on courses with "poor English language skills" as a way of "boosting income", said the BBC. Vivienne Stern, the body's chief executive, said that universities carry out strict checks on those they enrol – including minimum language levels.

The unidentified professors said "improved regulation of English language entry standards" was "clearly required", but they also called for an "honest, open, and evidence-led discussion" of the problem in the context of policy debates about the future of higher education funding.

The fundamental issue is that it is becoming "increasingly unprofitable" for British universities to teach British students, wrote Tom Jones for The Critic. "If we are to build a more successful and sustainable future for the UK universities", this "cannot be based on recruiting ever more foreign students" to allow the government to avoid "politically difficult decisions" on higher education.