International Students Lack Basic English Skills, Can't Follow Masters Course: Report

The higher education in the UK is facing quality crisis, reveals a recent report published in the Higher Education Policy Institute. The report highlights that many universities in the UK have significant proportion of international students who do not meet the basic requirements of English language skills. These students lack the necessary knowledge of English language that is required to obtain a degree and yet degrees are being awarded to them.

The situation is uneven between universities and subjects and the problem is most acute on Master's programmes, the report adds.

Two anonymous professors at Russell Group institutions noted, "On the Master's programmes in our departments, only a very small number of students typically have the English language skills necessary for engaging in meaningful seminar discussions. Furthermore, there are increasing numbers of students who are not engaged at all in the learning process. We have both regularly encountered students who are unable to understand simple questions like ‘What have you read on this topic?' "

Noting that many students in the Master's-level classes use translation apps to provide real-time translation of any spoken content,  the professors said that open questions to the whole class are often met with silence, and group tasks are typically conducted using translation apps.

Explaining the reason for degrading higher education in the UK, the professors cited long-term underfunding of education, a marketised system, and university leaderships that value the generation of a financial surplus above all as the major causes. Income from home student teaching is too low and therefore admissions are offered to high-fee-paying international students. The professors explained, "Universities increasingly rely on distant recruitment agents that sell UK higher education ‘packages' to students. There have also been examples of students being given poor information about their course, and finding themselves on programmes they are not really interested in."

Expressing concern over how students with inadequate English language skills are getting admissions to universities in the UK, the professors questioned the authenticity of the foundation courses and IELTS tests. "We also don't know how these students are managing to pass their degrees despite often failing their initial assessments in massive numbers.

The authors are established Russell Group professors working in different universities and disciplines with a combined 60 years of teaching experience.