Key Points
Top universities in the United Kingdom may be allowing international students to buy seats when their grades don't match up their high requirements...
A Sunday Times report has claimed that prestigious Russell Group universities are letting foreign students buy their way in through secret routes..
Britain's top universities are paying middlemen to recruit lucrative overseas students on far lower grades than those required of UK students, claims the report, adding that foreign students can buy their way on to degree courses with as little as a handful of C grades at GCSEs...
The Russell Group consists of 24 UK-based universities, of which 15 have been linked to the scam as a result of The Sunday Times' investigation into international foundation programmes intended to facilitate the transition of international students into degrees...
"Our universities maintain high entry standards to their degree programmes to ensure that their offer remains of high quality, and that all students whatever their pathway to university are at an appropriate standard to study, both on entry and throughout their course..
