Oxford University risking its scholarly reputation by courting the rich but academically weaker overseas students

Updated on: Thursday, August 29, 2013

Britain's Oxford University, one of the world's most prestigious educational institutions, may be risking its scholarly reputation in favour of commercial interests by courting the rich but academically weaker overseas students.

An internal report has warned that the university's admission of wealthy foreign students with poor grades "poses severe reputational risk" .

These so-called "associate students", who have lower than average grades than an Oxford undergraduate, pay as much as £13,000 ( 13,38,439) a term and can stay on campus for up to a year. "Although there is some assessment of their s scores before they are admitted, the transaction seems to be one of a purely commercial kind," the report said.

While these are not officially a part of the university, it is feared that colleges independent of the university and free to set their own admissions policies granted them admission for "purely commercial" reasons. The inquiry was held by a working group chaired by Professor Paul Slack, a former pro-vicechancellor at Oxford.

The Washington International Studies Council (WISC), which claims to be the largest overseas study programme at Oxford, charges £13,430 ( 13,82,443) for a 13-week term.

About £4,000 ( 4,11,827) of that total is paid to the Oxford college, and students can attend for a year.

Oxford University risking its scholarly reputation by courting the rich but academically weaker overseas students

More Education news