It is true that foreign students in many cases are a cash cow, or golden goose, for universities, not only in the UK as described in your editorial, but in many other countries including Ireland (“Britain risks throttling a golden goose”, FT View, May 16). But at what cost to academic standards?
Many universities spend considerable sums of money attracting high fee-paying foreign students, especially for postgraduate programmes.
As a result, the finances of some universities are now so dependent on this source of funding that it has become imperative that a degree is assured, regardless almost of the quality and performance of the foreign students involved.
This is not only an affront to academic standards but also to the other students on the programme, who have through their examinations and assessment performance fully merited the title of a masters degree.
John O’Hagan
Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
