Are international students being exploited at IU?

A couple in China is suing an American education consultant for the $2 million they paid him. The lawsuit is in response to his failure to secure their son’s
admission to Harvard University.

It is suspected that this education consultant misrepresented himself as a former professor of Harvard with a number of connections that would ascertain their son’s admittance.

It appears he was instead an assistant professor and lecturer that ceased communication with the university in 2005.

This lawsuit showcases how international students hoping to receive an American education are sometimes exploited, and it might hit closer to home than we realize.

As it stands, some international students are at risk of forfeiting their IU education because they are either not prepared to handle four years of coursework in another language or not better acclimated to the system IU has in place to improve English proficiency.

Consequently, these students will, after a few $24,000+ semesters, be forced to leave IU due to low grades if their English does not improve. The language barrier prevents international students from succeeding, even if they are excellent, capable students and can dance circles around their American classmates.

Most need to have a stellar academic record to even gain admission to IU.

IU requires international students to demonstrate proficiency in their initial application in one of three ways. They may either complete a proficiency test, obtain a minimum of 500 on the SAT’s critical reading section or a 21 on the ACT’s English section, or present evidence of having attended a secondary school in an English-speaking country.

If these students do not meet certain test scores, they must complete Intensive English Program Placement, which requires them to achieve adequate English proficiency before they enroll in academic courses.

IU might consider defining adequate English proficiency more strictly for the sake of students who enroll in courses only to discover that their language abilities prevent them from succeeding in these courses.

Academic advancement is not the only problem.

International students often run into trouble with the judicial board because they do not understand IU rules and expectancies as a result of the language barrier.

Occasionally, these students are accused of plagiarism when, in fact, there were misunderstandings about citation requirements.

We imagine that IU has no intention of exploiting these students. We recently proudly reported record enrollment from this community.

There are 7,785 international students enrolled in IU campuses this semester, a 70 percent increase since 2005.

If IU is interested in improving retention rates, the issues with English proficiency must be addressed.

IU can handle this situation in one of two ways. They can either increase language expectancies and bar international students from admission if they are not met, or they can improve Intensive English Program Placement.

We advocate the latter.

It would be a shame to lose talented and competent students because of a language barrier, especially when they are entitled to and expect a quality education in exchange for the generous amount they pay to be here.