A recent BBC Wales investigation has uncovered evidence of Welsh University lecturers accepting below average work from international students for financial reasons.
BBC Wales were told by an anonymous lecturer that the academic standards of some courses at universities in the UK have suffered in recent years as they are focussing more on attracting foreign students than the quality of work submitted.
International students have always been an important source of income for British universities, due to their higher fees.
In the 2010/11 academic year, a total of 48,580 international students were studying in the UK, generating 32% of universitiesÔÇÖ fee income. Overall, foreign students are believed to contribute approximately ┬ú5bn a year to the wider economy, including fees.
The anonymous lecturer claimed, ÔÇ£Everybody knows itÔÇÖs going on ÔÇô very few people are actually standing up and being counted.ÔÇØ
The lecturer, who chose to stay anonymous for fear of losing his job, also told BBC Wales that the exam elements of the postgraduate Masters of Business Administration (MBA) courses were being removed, with assessment entirely focussed on coursework. The lecturer said that international studentsÔÇÖ English language ability is so poor they often find it ÔÇ£very, very difficult to pass examinations.ÔÇØ
With the MBA courses assessed entirely on coursework, he added that new sophisticated plagiarism software would be useful. However, there is no guarantee that international students are not getting someone else to write their coursework for them.
He stated, ÔÇ£We should be focussing on quality and I would say that UK higher education has suffered significant reputational damage as a result of the recruitment policies by many universities.ÔÇØ
After an initial delay, Welsh universities Cardiff, Aberystwyth, Swansea and Trinity St David have all now agreed to let BBC Wales News see examples of their MBA dissertations.
Twenty dissertations from Bangor University submitted by international students in the 2009/10 academic year, reviewed by BBC Wales, were said to be ÔÇ£almost unintelligibleÔÇØ and included ÔÇ£grammatical errorsÔÇØ.
Professor Nick Bourne, former law lecturer and ex-Welsh Conservative leader said, ÔÇ£There are pieces of work here which do not appear to be anywhere near the sort of level that a Masters qualification would require.ÔÇØ
Clearly, this raises serious questions around the assessment process of international students at UK universities. What assistance and supervision are foreign students receiving? But more importantly, how were these dissertations even passed in the first place?
Dr Edmund Schluessel, a PGCE student at Cardiff University, and the NUS International Students Officer for Wales, has spoken to gair rhydd concerning this matter. Dr Schluessel said, ÔÇ£I would not be surprised if University managements are pressurising lecturers to give some students preferential treatment. ItÔÇÖs a logical consequence of seeing students as sources of profit.
ÔÇ£If these allegations are substantiated then theyÔÇÖre a devastating indictment of how universities are being turned into businesses rather than operating for public benefit.ÔÇØ
He added that these recent allegations are entirely representative of ÔÇ£how international students are being exploited by universities for quick profit.ÔÇØ
Hi, I’m not a lecturer, I’m a PGCE student.
Very sorry for this mistake, it has now been corrected in the article.