Comment: Expensively arrogant
"You couldn't find a supervisor because you don't speak English very well. They probably thought you wouldn't be able to write well either...Maybe you should spend more time listening to English."
These were roughly the words of a faculty member to my friend when they met to discuss finding a new supervisor to advise her in her research interests. Did he think that since English was her second language the cruelty of his words would be lost in translation? Relating the meeting to me, my friend expressed her frustration with tears gathering in her eyes, asking, "I am paying so much to be here - shouldn't I deserve supervision that benefits me?"
Overseas students comprise forty percent of those enrolled in graduate courses at Oxford and are helping to fill the dwindling coffers of Oxford colleges and academic departments. An article in The Oxford Student in October last year reported the deficits and poor returns in investments that many Oxford colleges suffer. This "funding crisis" which partially results from the disjuncture between the costs of higher education and the tuition fees and government funding paid to UK universities, finds a solution in postgraduate fees. Unlike undergraduate fees, these must be paid in full by students and are about three times more for non-EU overseas students.
In fact, Oxford University's Education Policy and Standards Committee hopes for a 12% increase in the number of overseas students by 2008, a 7% increase in taught postgraduates each year, and a 4.5% increase in research postgraduates each year, with a calculated loss of Home/EU students. But are University services and academic divisions meeting the needs of these growing populations of Oxford students?
I, too, am an overseas postgraduate student in a master's taught-course in geography where about 70% of my classmates are non-EU students. I arrived at Oxford from California on September 28th to attend the overseas student orientation the next day. Arriving early made me the first to move in to my college dorm and added another 30-odd pounds to my battels for the extra days of accommodation.
Unlike many overseas students at Oxford, English is my native language, albeit American English. I can rest assured that I will have no trouble asking salespeople to help me at Debenham's or spinning out a five thousand word term paper with four weeks of break to spare.
Those for whom English is a second language, on the other hand, must work far harder at it. This is not to say that some overseas students can't speak English - they do and rather well. Yes, she has an accent and mispronounces a few words, but why should that be unacceptable when American or Italian accents or mispronunciations are acceptable and even romanticized?
I can only imagine how hard it is to take classes and write papers in English as my second language, not to mention navigate in a completely different culture. I remember one of the Chinese students at a party telling me about their plans to take the LASR English class and saying, "You are so lucky-you already speak English." Some of my overseas friends often spend hours figuring out exactly what they will say in a class presentation or sit silently during class discussions as they concentrate to absorb the information.
There are, however, many instances at Oxford where people are considerate of the difficulties of studying in another language and a foreign country. Many departments also provided writing tutorials for students, especially targeting the overseas students, to help prepare them for the process of writing their term papers. The University also offers free English language courses through its LASR program. Still, when my friend showed her research proposal to the faculty member his amazed response was, "You wrote this?"
Many overseas students I know, stayed in Oxford over Christmas break. It is quite expensive for some overseas students like my other friends from the Philippines and Guyana to fly back so they chose to stay here. At a time when everyone else had gone home to spend the holidays with their family, overseas students were the few left in their dorms.
Many of the Chinese students I met when I first arrived had already been in Oxford for a few months before the academic year began to get used to the place and take an English language class; I asked her how she managed to find somewhere to stay, she just shrugged and said through another Chinese student at Oxford. What support does the University provide for overseas students during these black dates in the academic calendar? Being one myself, I have to admit that it doesn't seem like much.
Whatever the attempts to solve its financial problems, Oxford should be careful not to forget that education and the welfare of its students is the primary concern and ultimate goal of its financial stability. After all, there will be no future research without students. Whether or not non-EU overseas postgraduate students and their £15,000 in fees and battels are the answer, we should all be getting our money's worth.
Cases where students have found it difficult to receive advising or other academic support are not limited to overseas or postgraduate students. Furthermore, we are all entitled to the respect and welcome due to any student or staff member at this institution, to any person regardless of race, class, gender, or culture.
27th Jan 2005