Admissions Of Failure Essay Sample

Introduction

In her Article “Admissions of Failure” (2004, January 22) Rebecca Hughes, a director of the University of Nottingham's Centre for English Language Education, claims that British universities should pay more attention to the demands of international students. So, the main point of the article is whether universities should give more language support to international students.

Summary

The number of international students in Britain increases dramatically each year. As a result, it affects the whole system of higher education in the country and may bring some problems as well. Thus, the author of the article states that British universities got used to the following image of higher education applicants: a well-qualified students who speak English as their first language and who do not need to adjust themselves to the requirements of chosen degree. However, this system doesn’t work for international students. For those, whose native language is not English, it is not enough to be high-calibre student with great skills. Therefore, the knowledge of the language becomes of main importance for foreign applicant. Unfortunately, admissions tutors don’t give due consideration to the “language factor” as they care only about academic profile of the applicant and seem to be too optimistic about their skills to make a good job of applicants who lack knowledge of English. Thus, according to Rebecca Hughes (2004), “If you are serious about increasing international numbers, English ability becomes one of the defining characteristics of a high-calibre applicant, rather than something incidental” (p.2). Moreover, the author insists that the language question is needed to be moved from the margin to the center.
This problem wouldn’t be so vivid if universities had only a small number of international students. But when this number is increased greatly each year, some measures should be done. At this rate the universities may lower the standards of learning or accept a high failure rate, which of course doesn’t seem to be the right decision. Or they may face the costs and with the help of extra teaching help students to conform to the needed standards. If the students won’t be able to get through their courses because of the lack of the language knowledge, it may put the university’s system on the line. Therefore, the author of the text argues, “If the challenge is not met, then this means more than the failure of the individual course - in time it undermines the university as a whole, by diminishing standards or destroying its brand” (Hughes, 2004, p.3). So, the higher education sector needs to find appropriate ways of how to deal with the problem of international students. That is why the author of the article proposes to organize special meetings for those academics and administrators who are interested in solving this problem and want to exchange best practice.
So, at the end of the article, Rebecca Hughes concludes that British universities have to meet costs. It is true that the whole process of helping foreign students to adjust to the demands of chosen university is not easy and involves certain expenses. Nevertheless, they shouldn’t ignore the problems with the language which may face international students. What is more, the author suggests that these costs should be viewed not as expenses but as investments which will later help to get the universities the essential international dimension.

Response

Thinking about this problem, I fully agree with the author of “Admissions of Failure”. In some British universities the amount of foreign students may even outnumber the amount of the native ones. That is why many of the under-funded institutions should not only count the benefits and get their payments but help students to adjust to the university’s programme as well. It is obvious that the universities shouldn’t ignore the demands of foreign students. It is essential for these universities to think carefully about possible ways of language support for international students. They shouldn’t treat them the same way as they do with the native students. On the contrary, universities should adapt to the needs of the foreign students.

Works cited

Hughes, R. (2004, January 22). Admissions of failure. The Guardian. Retrieved from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2004/jan/22/tefl.internationalstudents