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The ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Inside Out East programme (Monday 8 February, ´óÏó´«Ã½ One East, 7.30pm) has uncovered evidence that suggests financial pressures are leading universities to accept overseas students who simply do not have the skills to be there.

It is no secret that universities are struggling financially. Overseas students, who pay fees to attend their chosen courses, are increasingly playing a big part in helping them make ends meet.

"Anja" (not his real name) is a first year Law student in London. He freely admits that sometimes he cannot understand what is being said in lectures and is unable to write his own work.

He says: "In my class from the Sri Lankan guys they know little English that they can understand properly. The Pakistani and Indian and the Gujarati, they can't understand even one single word in English. That is the main problem for us we can't understand what they are telling [sic]."

For "Anja" a temporary solution is to get help, until his English improves, which sometimes means paying others to write the work for him.

He says: "Sometimes when we writing we can't write so we are getting help from British students sometimes when doing assignments we get help from them to write them? Sometimes they ask money to write out so we have to pay for that [sic]."

It seems that "Anja" is certainly not alone in paying for help. One (former) graduate from Cambridge University made a living from doing other student's work at other universities.

He said: "I did writing on Business Studies, European Law, Green Economics... I am highly surprised that it wasn't flagged up that these particular students were perhaps achieving a 2:1 and writing reasonably fluidly, when they couldn’t speak English particularly well, let alone write it."

Inside Out has also discovered that a third of all the money collected through fees by universities in England now comes from overseas, amounting to £1.6billion.

The pressure to recruit is causing concern among academics.

Jan Farndale left Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge two years ago. She taught English to overseas students but was not happy with the standard of language skills.

She says: "I think the big problem was money. We were recruiting students who were academically not capable and the important issue was that they could pay. They did not have adequate English to be able to follow the course, so it was difficult to know whether they could follow the subject."

Anglia Ruskin University deny that there is a problem at the university with language ability and deny that overseas students are being treated leniently.

Sandra Hollis, Vice-President, International and Development Services at Anglia Ruskin University, said: "I am very surprised to hear that. If we come across students who want to join Anglia Ruskin and who are qualified academically, but if their English does not reach the right level, then we can recommend a couple of courses of action to reach the right level."

There is no doubt that the obstacles for universities are huge. They are facing cuts of more than £900million over the next three years, and fear worse is still to come. The danger is that, in safeguarding their financial future, some universities may erode their academic reputation.

Professor Alan Smithers, Director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, who says he has witnessed language problems at other universities, believes we should be on our guard.

He says: "It is absurd that the quality of higher education in this country should be dependent on bringing in students from abroad who may not have the command of English to fully benefit from the courses that are being offered. It is leading to a re-interpretation of what a British degree stands for in the world at large."

Inside Out is on Monday 8 February 2010, ´óÏó´«Ã½ One East, 7.30pm and can also be viewed via the ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer.

BG