An extra year for international students?

The Guardian Education website today asks a question pertinent to many who are planning to cross international waters to go further their education in the U.K. That question essentially includes this one: should international students be farmed off into a separate year-long course in university, before being allowed to merge with the domestic courses?

This is of course based on the notion that many international students come from a language-barrier background – English is their second language. And despite the fact that tests of English are required before admission to a British university, there have been many complains about cheating at the test centres. However there are many instances in which English is not a language that is completely alien to students – many Indian students applying for university abroad come from an English-taught schooling system; the same applies for some students from Hong Kong, the Philippines, and so on.

Another battling point is that not all international students are necessarily taught alike. Students coming from France will have a differing perspective than those coming from say, Brazil. So it would probably make a lot more sense to just enable these students to be streamlined directly into the general student body from the get-go.

But we can’t really disagree that maybe something is needed. Perhaps an earlier orientation to bring students up to scratch on what is expected from them in order for them to do better?

You can follow the Guardian Education’s webchat on this subject here.

And do send us your thoughts as well!