Corruption in education

This Article was published in
The Frontier Post (May 29, 2010)

By Sahibzada Hussain Mohi-ud-Din Qadri

The United States has had an influx of foreign students since 2008. While the percentage of these students has risen to high levels, the fact that most of these students have passed through without even getting an education is unbelievable. This sort of 'admission practice' is also happening in the United Kingdom and in Australia as well. A lot of students from China, India, Thailand and Pakistan are gaining university admission not because of their educational merit, but because they have a large amount of money to hand over. Some US, UK, Australia, International students from abroad are literally paying their way to good grades instead of studying and learning to get them. The admission of these students like this is an outrage and a manifest violation of merit and civilized norms. This is especially true when this practice has affected the admissions of those local students who want to join universities purely on educational merit.

Due to these schools being full of the moneyed foreigners, there isn't a lot of room left for those students that truly deserve to be there. This leads to questions as to what has happened to morals of education system of these countries. While most of the educationists do not subscribe to this policy of admissions, they have, however, been instructed to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to such instances or get ready to lose their positions altogether. These professionals have most likely been threatened with the fact that this money being obtained from these kinds of students is what forms their salaries. Most of these students from the foreign countries can't speak English well even after they have graduated from a top-notch university. What does this mean for the officials at these institutions? What does this say about the governments that are supposed to be aiding these universities with funds for scholarships and faculty salaries?

This should serve as a sign for all that there is trouble somewhere in these educational structures. Something that is amiss enough to cause illegitimate practices such as these university admissions to these students is appalling. Most universities have admission requirements for those international students that plan to apply at their institution. These guidelines are certainly being ignored in many cases and compromised greatly for the sake of a dollar. The emphasis that these schools are placing on money when it comes to these kinds of students is extreme. Extreme enough that these students are being passed off as something they are not. They leave that school with a supposed hard earned degree that is truly a falsification, an outright lie and obvious deception. The sad fact is that the students that deserve to be in the seats of those universities don't get to be. They are settling for second rate schools that are going to provide them with a second rate education. These are the students that could make positive contributions to society.

The world's very future depends on these kinds of students that are being pushed to wall for the sake of money and more money. These are some of the students that are likely to succeed in these schools, gaining high marks on their own merit without having to flash a buck or two to the right person to get them. The worst case scenario is when these foreign students are passed on to graduation; they are graduating with a deceptive degree. Some of these students end up in the workforce of these countries they attended school at. This spells disaster for some of those infrastructures hiring them. This is especially true of medical fields of these countries, the one place where every single individual involved needs to have true knowledge about what they are performing as a job in medicine. How can these universities expect the economies to be run efficiently when they are turning out students that are fouling up the workforce with unacceptable performances in the very fields they hold a bachelor's degree in? Consider the number of law suits due to this fact. Another grey area in the admission system of foreign universities is that certain developing countries like Pakistan have forged educational partnerships with the top universities of the world. They send the students having poor educational track records, selected through spurious process, for higher education to these universities whose stupendous cost is paid by the taxpayers.

These students 'outsource' their research work and other assignments and thus are able to get good grades. Upon returning to their countries, they hold important positions. One can well imagine the disaster caused to public interest in the entire process. This writer also has practical experience of coming across a group of Pakistan students who were sent to Australia to get higher education. Majority of them were not able to write even a single correct sentence in English. There is a need to formulate Standard Operating Procedures to ensure that the deserving students get to the top universities through a sound process of selection. There are many of these kinds of lawsuits present in the field of medicine. The rising number of law suits being argued over in the courts due to reckless judgments by those who are supposed to be prolific in their fields is a waste of money and an additional factors in a failing economies.

The average person could visit a hospital in any of these countries and find a doctor from China or India. While some of these professionals may really be proficient in their field and actually know what they are doing, there are a lot at the same time that graduated from schools that didn't care what kind of grades they actually made; they were going to pass anyway. The problem is being able to choose the professionals that have a real education through earning through studying not by paying the educators off. Concerning the field of medicine, choosing wrong could mean serious consequences for someone innocent. The big question is how to find the ways to stop these illegal and immoral university admissions. Does there have to be a planted spy in every university admissions office or can the officials at these schools face their governments for the monetary support they need to be able to operate efficiently?

If you or someone you know is applying for admission into any university, you should stop and ask someone there on the top of ladder just how many US, UK, Australia, International Students are admitted without having educational merit. Maybe then these officials would realise how unfair the game is that they are playing in the educational system. It is the capable students and the public that ultimately suffer from the aftereffects.