Sometimes it seems like educators think education is only there to benefit the educators. But then again, sometimes the educators think that attitude is actually wrong. Or, at least right now one of them does.The educator in this case would be former Pro-Vice Chancellor of Warwick University, Professor Susan Bassnett.
She claims that international students are seen as "cash cows", i.e. an easy and continuous source of income by institutions depending on the money they bring in ... and those institutions are covering up problems caused by those students whose English is so poor, they wouldn't even "scrape a GCSE". Well, they certainly wouldn't come close to scraping one now, after Ofqual's little repositioning of this summer’s GCSE English goalposts, would they?
However, that might be seen as a benefit by (and to) some academics, according to Professor Bassnett, because they're earning "tidy little sums on the side" helping those with poor English to produce essays. "We have all seen the way in which international students with poor qualifications have been recruited as cash cows for years now,’ she wrote recently. "I am not the only academic to have acted as an external examiner, assessor or auditor in the sector and to have seen scripts in English so poor that the students wouldn’t scrape a GCSE." So it would seem that London Metropolitan University - currently in court trying to get the ban on its right to sponsor foreign students for UK visas lifted - could either be the tip of the iceberg, or a warning to other universities cashing in on their option to charge foreign students up to £20,00 a year – whether or not they can speak English. And for London Met, that's a very tidy £30 million each year - perhaps a case of education definitely benefiting ... the educators?
Best, then, to consider some other kind of education that actually benefits those being educated instead. Vocational training springs to mind. And yes, in the case of an apprenticeship it benefits the trainer, in that at the end, there’s a perfectly trained candidate for any job vacancy. That makes it easier for them to recruit from within, rather than face the risk and expense of recruiting externally. And, of course, it definitely benefits the apprentice, since they’ve received the training, work experience and the qualifications they need for the career of their choice. And all in perfect English, too.
