International Students on Postgraduate Courses

[*carrie* 10]

The prerequisite of a (taught) postgraduate course ought to be to be able to produce work to the appropriate standard and to be able to contribute to seminars in a productive manner.

 

The students on my course vary in terms of their nationality, which is a real benefit when studying international politics, however the ability of people in terms of their english language skills is so vast it is beyond belief. some international students have an excellent command of english and contribute well to discussions and are a real joy to work with. Others seem to be unable to respond to basic questions like 'what did you think of the reading?' or 'what have you read?'.

 

i found myself sat in a class this morning wishing i hadnt bothered to go because i was put in a group with international students, none of whom contributed to any kind of discussion and i ended up talking to myself.

 

Does anyone else think that there ought to be a basic communication standard for degree entry as well as the academic standards? i know many students of languages understand more than they can respond to, me having been one of them, but at this level when it is so much more difficult, surely this ought to be overcome at least to a certain level.

 

(apologies for spelling and grammar - in a rush!)

[Saff 10]

In the postgrad degree I've been looking at doing there are minimum language standards for foreign students, but maybe this isn't the case in all of them. I only know because it said on the documentation about the qualifications needed and mentioned some I didn't know so I looked them up and they were about language standards.

[Suffragette1 10]

There is supposed to be a minimum IELTs score of 6.0 for anyone wishing to study on a UK degree (undergrad/postgrad), maybe some are able to achieve this standrad in the written word but not verbally.

 

At the end of the day, overseas students is all about money, that's all they care about ultimately.

[tab1 10]

 

At the end of the day, overseas students is all about money, that's all they care about ultimately.

 

Absolutely agree with that. The overseas students, I believe a given a short course to bring their language skills up to standard. The old Health and Safety place on Broad Lane is now part of the Uni and renamed the International College and full of overseas students paying into the system. For the Uni to take over such a large complex and dedicate it to this subject implies that money must be good.

[Suffragette1 10]

Absolutely agree with that. The overseas students, I believe a given a short course to bring their language skills up to standard. The old Health and Safety place on Broad Lane is now part of the Uni and renamed the International College and full of overseas students paying into the system. For the Uni to take over such a large complex and dedicate it to this subject implies that money must be good.

 

They are already supposed to be of a good standard, but with everything else, many universities are prepared to let standards drop to get bums on seats.

[grafikhaus74 10]

Quite right. The BBC did a prog. on this earlier in the year implying that the word is out - "Go to an English University and you're pretty much guaranteed a degree, irrespective of your English language skills."

[*carrie* 10]

I think I am going to refuse to work with people who cannot contribute to a conversation. I might pay less than an international student, but I haven't the money to waste on frustration.

[Scozzie 10]

The first time I went out in Sheffield, I found myself in a beer garden (guess which one), entertaining the crowd out there. There was a group of people sitting in a corner just watching everyone but talking amongst themselves.

I decided to talk to them.

 

Turns out they were international students - and they were missing out on the shinanigans shared by the rest of the people in the beergarden becasue of the language barrier. the told me that they missed out on so much because they didn't understand or that people spoke too fast.

 

They said that they wanted their English to get better, but native English speakers wouldn't take the time to help them.

 

I felt sorry for them because they were nice people, but it was very hard work.

[foreign 10]

At the end of the day, overseas students is all about money, that's all they care about ultimately.

 

It's not entirely true...

Every year we have like a half a dozen of PhD fellowships for UK and EU students.

However, we struggle to find British postgrads, just because nobody here dares about having MS or PhD, it's not worth spending three or more years if you can go straight to the bank, get a job there and earn an order of magnitude more than a postgrad stipend.

So, we go to European market, and surprisingly the same thing happens. Nobody wants to take fellowships, and these fellowships finally expire... So, yes, it's all about money, but opposite to what you meant.

Normally the fellowships are not available for overseas students, however if some are available, this is most probably the case that they will be taken by overseas students again just because nobody except overseas students wants to take them.

So, English is not the selection criteria now. Neither money are.

[Mini_Cooper 10]

Carrie, I totally understand where you come from...ie work with anyone who won't contribute to the coursework

 

I will not work with someone who has BO, or someone whos fat.

[Crayfish 10]

Have to admit, I've met a few people who either intend to submit or have already submitted a PhD thesis written in English but can't hold a basic conversation. Maybe they're just a lot better at written English, or have trouble with my accent or something.

[Scozzie 10]

My primary school was 80% SE Asian.

of those 80%, 70% of them could not speak English (I know - we made it onto a couple of current affairs programs) I spent most of my time at school teaching kids how to speak English. Then mum started taking exchange students and then couch surfers.

 

You can either ignore them and hope they go away, or learn from them.

 

I can swear and order beer in about 30 languages - and I have taught a heck of a lot of people English (ie how to swear and order beer)

 

Carrie, you have said that no one contributed - did they try, did they not understand or were they simply disinterested?