A BBC investigation has found evidence that suggests some universities under financial pressure accept overseas students who lack adequate English.
Money from overseas students totals £1.6bn and makes up a third of university fees in England.
Arjuna – not his real name – is a law student in London and admits he cannot understand what lecturers are saying, Inside Out has discovered.
He said he could not write assignments and sometimes has had to cheat.
“In my class, the guys they know little English that they can understand properly.
“The Pakistani and Indians and the Gujaratis 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.”
A temporary solution is to get help and until his English improves – he said that sometimes meant paying for others to write his assignments.
Arjuna is not alone.
One former English graduate from Cambridge University said he made a living from doing other people’s work.
These were for students from the Middle East and South America not studying at Cambridge University.
He told Inside Out that he wrote assignments for anything from business studies to European law and green economics to photography.
“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,” he said.
The pressure to recruit is causing concern among academics.
Lecturer 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.
‘Not capable’
“I think the big problem was money,” she said.
“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 denied that there was a problem at the university with language ability then or now.
Sandra Hollis, vice-president of international and development services, said: “If we come across students who want to join Anglia Ruskin and who are qualified academically, but their English does not reach the right level, then we can recommend a couple of courses of action to reach the right level.”
Erode reputation
Some academics have also criticised the fact some universities have allowed students to pass even though their work was below standard.
Professor Alan Smithers, from Buckingham University, said he had witnessed leniency.
He claimed that at one university, not Buckingham, a deal was negotiated with Saudi Arabia to offer a diploma programme to 20 students.
He said that when it came to the examination, about 17 students were not up to the task.
“It became an issue that the money had been accepted so there were various compromises around the margins, and the majority of them got through,” he said.
Universities in England are facing cuts of more than £900m over the next three years.
Professor Smithers believes there is a danger some may erode their academic reputations by securing their financial positions.
“It is leading to a reinterpretation of what a British degree stands for in the world at large,” he said.
Vandals have smashed the gravestone of a one-day old baby boy who died in 1998 in Cambridgeshire.
The grave, marked “Billy”, was damaged in the week before Sunday 7 February at Chewells Lane cemetery in Haddenham.
Pc Becky Hughes said: “This is an act of mindless vandalism on a child’s grave. The family, including Billy’s twin brother, are devastated.
“I would urge anyone with information about this damage or witnessed the attack to contact police.”
Two water mains bursting in a suburb of a Cambridgeshire city within hours of each other cut supplies to more than 750 properties.
The first of the leaks happened in the early hours in the Stanground area of Peterborough.
Engineers restored supplies to most of the properties by early afternoon.
Anglian Water then confirmed a second pipe had burst in the area. It said residents would not have water turned back on until later in the night.
A CCTV image has been released of a man police would like to speak to after a taxi driver was robbed in Cambridge.
Cash was stolen in the robbery, which happened in Buchan Street between 2030 and 2115 GMT on 3 January.
Det Con Daniel Cooper, who is investigating the crime, said: “I would like to speak to the man pictured as he may be able to help with our inquiries.
“If anyone recognises this man, or if you recognise yourself in these images, please contact me.”
Pupils from Peterborough will next week unveil their creative ideas for a new multi-million pound school buildings.
At an event at Peterborough Town Hall on Monday, the students will put forward designs for new buildings at their three schools.
Teams of 15 pupils from three schools – Ormiston Bushfield Academy, Stanground College and Orton Longueville School – took part in the initiative.
The pupils’ work will influence the drawing up of detailed plans.
The three teams designed plans for a new £20m premises at Ormiston Bushfield Academy, a £40m re-construction of Stanground College and £20m improvements at Orton Longueville School.
At the celebration event, the teams will unveil their ideas to an audience that will include their headteachers, chairs of governors, parents and Mayor of Peterborough councillor Irene Walsh.
The initiative was sponsored by the education organisation the Sorrell Foundation.
