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Universities are taking ILLITERATE students in a bid to hit targets

Gayathri | Friday, February 17, 2017 10:35 AM IST

The Times Higher Education annual survey polled 1,150 university staff about their jobs, with academics making up 90 per cent of respondents.

Some suggested the drive to get youngsters into university, as well as more foreign students who pay higher fees, has led to an inevitable drop in the calibre of undergraduates. 

One creative arts professor said: ‘When 45 per cent of school-leavers go to university, standards must be different from what they were when 7 per cent did.’ Another said: ‘Each year, the entry requirements for undergraduate programmes are reduced, meaning we get a high number of students who are almost illiterate.’

While a lecturer at a large London university said they wondered ‘how some of our [postgraduate] students got their first degrees, as the quality of their written English is really poor’.

The survey, which examined all aspects of campus life for academics, found that many had serious misgivings about the ability and motivation of their students. 

Around 39 per cent of academics thought that students are intellectually less able or less well prepared than previous generations.

The Government recently launched a drive to toughen up GCSE and A-level qualifications following years of criticism that they had been dumbed down and teenagers were leaving school without basic skills. 

But it also removed a cap on recruiting students, meaning universities can recruit as many as they like, which ministers hope will lead to even greater numbers of students from disadvantaged backgrounds gaining places.

Students now paying £9,000 a year in fees, meaning universities are under pressure to treat them more like consumers who want their money’s worth.

However, one academic said it means ‘student satisfaction’ now matters more than ‘academic quality’, while another at a top university said they felt under pressure to give out first-class degrees.

Around 68 per cent of academics said that students complain if they are given marks that are lower than expected.

A Department for Education spokesman said: ‘Our GCSE and A-level reforms will create qualifications that match the best education systems in the world. But we want to keep improving the quality of schools, so more students of all backgrounds have the grades and the confidence to apply to the best universities, and be successful in exams.