On February 26, 2007, The Guardian newspaper corrected an error they made in a previous article which wrongly identified John Raftery as vice-chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, when he is in fact the pro-vice-chancellor.
Susan Moore, working under a pseudonym, is part of Exeter University but feels like she isn’t anymore since her employer started working alongside Into University Partnerships following December 11 last year. While the university retains its academic oversight, Into provides English language preparation for international pupils and manages every other aspect of the English Language Centre, including employment of lecturers and organising student lodging.
Moore claims that she no longer works for the university but a commercial corporation and as a result of this agreement all the opportunities for research under the "joint venture" have been taken away from her. On top of this, Moore points to the university treating international students like "cash cows" and teachers having less pay for greater workload. This has led to the academic being in search of new work after 10 years of research experience.
Into has already entered into joint ventures with the University of East Anglia last year and Newcastle University this year. The company aims to sign ten more universities up for the program in the next few years and is currently negotiating a deal with Oxford Brookes University. But, some professors are unhappy with the future plans.
Dr. Angie Pears, a religious lecturer, and co-chair of the local branch of the UCU revealed universal opposition to the venture with Into from Brookes staff at the international centre for English Language Studies. They fear lower academic standards, lower pay, and a shift that would result in the centre becoming more of a language school for teenagers than an academic facility.
Other staff have stated that they have heard from colleagues at Newcastle and Exeter that there are plans to hire less skilled personnel if the university agrees to the deal.
Into’s Andrew Collin doesn’t dispute that new personnel might be less skilled, stating it depends on the expanded offerings of the centre. "We will be adding new courses and taking students for general English tuition," he says. "Some staff would not be as well-qualified as those who take postgraduate courses and their rates of pay will be less. However, all will have a diploma in teaching English as a foreign language."
Collin argues that Brookes faculty members refused to hear his proposals at a meeting. "They have not yet had a proper presentation about what we would do," he says. "Academic quality issues are in the sole control of the universities we work with. The university determines entrance requirements and the teaching qualifications of staff. The course content at Brookes would continue in exactly the same way as it does now. There would be no change to terms and conditions."
Oxford Brookes University’s Professor John Raftery emphasises that the agreement with Into is still in its preliminary stages. The pro-vice-chancellor acknowledges that the market for international students is highly competitive and the UK is facing an increase in competition from Australia and the US. He believes that to boot the number of pupils, universities must look to new ways of providing and promoting their courses.
Universities UK, the umbrella organisation for vice-chancellors, agrees. Resources remain tight despite successful spending reviews. Therefore, members may need to use creative funding techniques if they continue to support the institution’s core principles and abide by laws.
The number of international students enrolling in UK universities is almost stagnant, with only a 0.4% increase in 2006 (45,326), just 201 more than the previous year.
The cost of higher education for international students in the UK is unusually high, and the competition for such students is vigorous, according to one educator. The University of Oxford is working together with private company, Into, to expand its international student body, but a new survey shows that more than a third of respondents are not in favor of private companies in higher education settings. Almost 40% of those polled believe academic standards would drop if private companies were involved; nearly half felt that the quality of UK higher education would be damaged with the presence of these firms. However, the University College Union (UCU) describes this partnership with Into as "creeping privatization," and sees the matter as an opportunity for universities to convert the overseas market into profitability. Sally Hunt of the UCU posits that overseas markets are a significant asset for British higher education, and not simply a financial resource to be sold to the highest bidder. Conversely, Collin of Into disagrees with this viewpoint and contends that they are not interested in complete privatization; rather, their interest is in the joint venture that creates fresh resources for universities. Nonetheless, the UCU wants the higher education community to slow down its eagerness to form partnerships with private companies similar to Oxford Brookes’ partnership with Into.