Warwick professor in foreign students row

A Warwick professor has accused UK universities for accepting international students with an “inadequate command of English” in order to receive more funding through uncapped tuition fees.

Former pro-vice chancellor and current professor of comparative literature Susan Bassnett made the allegations in magazine Times Higher Education (THE).

She claims to have “seen scripts in English so poor that the students wouldn’t scrape a GCSE” during her work as an external examiner, assessor and auditor.

Education officer at Warwick Students’ Union (SU), James Entwistle criticised some of Professor Bassnett’s comments pertaining to her own students.

He said: “She used some examples of her students which is unfitting of her students at Warwick.”

“It is unfair and unacceptable”.

Professor Bassnett, who was unavailable for comment, does not explicitly level the accusations at Warwick.

Moreover Warwick’s Head of Communications Peter Dunn told the Boar the comments do not apply to the University.

Mr Dunn cited “exceedingly high qualifications” applicants need to be offered a place at Warwick, “regardless of where they come from”.

He asserted that Professor Bassnett’s comments refer to her experience acting as an external examiner at other institutions.

According to Professor Bassnett, governments have not tackled the problem in order to enable cuts to higher education funding and staff members do not act because “a lot of people’s salaries are dependent” on the tuition fees paid by non-EU students.

She also claimed the “pressure to boost numbers” means selection criteria are not always observed. Despite universities’ efforts to insist on high scores, she claims this can be easily manipulated and there are “huge variations in what is considered to be a good English language score, often within the same institution”.

“It’s obviously important that students who struggle with English should get sufficient support and equally as an international institution we should encourage a diversity of languages on campus,” said Mr Entwistle.

Professor Bassnett was writing following the UK Border Agency’s suspension of London Metropolitian University‘s right to sponsor visas for non-EU students.

On September 22, the High Court ruled that existing overseas students with full immigration status and who were already in the UK should be allowed to continue their studies.

One first-year undergraduate student commented that “first-language barriers are not a problem at Warwick as far as I’ve seen” but that non-EU students seemed to pay “exorbitant” tuition fees for courses with very few contact hours.

Undergraduate students from outside the EU who do not study at Warwick Medical School pay between £13,800 and £17,600 per year depending on the subject.

Mr Entwistle added: “[Warwick SU] oppose the outrageous fees demanded of international students. Universities must recognise the stress of the financial burden for students beyond the EU.

“Some recent evidence such as the international student barometer suggest international students are relatively happy with learning demands on their course, however we must always work to make sure international students aren’t abused by the system and make sure staff are abrasive to students demands.

Professor Bassnett began her career in Italy, and then lectured at universities around the United States before moving to Warwick.