By Janset An
On 27 January, an undercover investigation by The Sunday Times claimed to reveal how top tier UK universities have been lowering entry requirements for overseas students by offering foundation year courses. The Sunday Times stated these courses allegedly gave an unfair advantage over domestic students applying through UCAS.
The courses in question do not require high A-level or GCSE grades and passing these exams were described as only a “formality” by the recorded recruitment officers. Since universities can charge international students up to £38,000 a year in uncapped tuition fees, facilitating their admissions entry may prove more lucrative than funding from domestic students at the capped £9,250.
The Department of Education has responded by launching its own investigation. Representatives of Universities UK have criticised the Sunday Times for misleading information, pointing out that these courses are used to bring students from diverse educational backgrounds on par with UK educational standards. It was further stated that, the number of domestic students in Russell Group universities have been increasing since the inflow of students from European countries have decreased following Brexit.
The scandal has brought to light surfacing issues within higher education. There has been a decline in the number of international students applying to the UK, with 2023 seeing non-EU overseas applications to UK universities grow at the slowest rate in six years. Many account this to the tighter immigration policies under Sunak’s government, which has increased student visa fees and have made it more challenging for masters students to bring family to the UK. The graduate route, which gives two years of open working rights to international students, is also currently under review. Changes within immigration policy are likely to affect LSE’s international students, who make up around 70% of LSE’s entire student body.
Although funding from international students made up a fifth of universities’ income last year, support for further strict measures against international students is likely to spike following the alleged scandal. This may force policymakers to tweak domestic policies by increasing tuition fees and introducing caps on ‘low value’ degrees to limit the spending of universities. ‘Low value degrees’ degrees would be assessed by the proportion of students who pass, dropout and go on to “professional jobs’ In LSE for example, this risks the underfunding of humanities departments like Anthropology which have a significantly lower rate of full time employment post education, 49% compared to the finance department which boasts at 78%.
An LSE spokesperson said: “LSE is committed to recruiting the best students with the highest academic and intellectual potential, whatever their background. Each application we receive is considered on an individual basis, taking into account a range of information. This may include the Personal Statement, academic achievement (both achieved and predicted grades), subject combinations, contextual information and the UCAS reference. Our admissions selectors assess achievement and potential whilst recognising the challenges an applicant may have faced in their educational or individual circumstances.”
Photograph from Pexels
