Chinese students at UCC claim they failed exams due to discrimination

According to sources familiar with the case, one of the main problems for the students, who were attending UCC’s business school, was their difficulties with the English language.

An investigation is underway into the treatment of a lecturer who was at the centre of the complaint from the students.

An email circulated in the university contained allegations of racism against the lecturer for which there was no evidence.

“The lecturer was hung out to dry because the authorities in the college are scared stiff of losing Chinese students,” one source explained.

“They’re stepping around the real reason why there was a high failure rate with these students.”

Multiple sources say that not all foreign students — who pay up €20k a year — are proficient enough in the English language for the courses they are accepted to.

The Chinese students wrote to the president of UCC and other senior college staff with their complaints.

“The coursework for this subject contained a statement that was disrespectful to China,” they wrote in the letter.

“Specifically, the Chinese flag was incorrectly displayed ... which goes against the principle of one China.”

They also complained that students who failed to attain the 40% pass mark in one exam, but still received above 25% would be given a second chance through an oral examination rather than a written test.

Adapting such a policy, the students complain, “gives priority to some students based on their scores, which is unfair and non-humanitarian, and it is a great psychological harm to the students who scored less than 25 marks”.

Sources in UCC say there is sympathy for the students but that the whole affair illustrates the problems that can arise when so much emphasis is put on recruiting high-paying students from abroad.

A separate email sent to the college from one of the Chinese students made allegations against a lecturer of “unfair” treatment and “discriminatory behaviour” but no evidence was provided about the claims.

The Irish Examiner understands the exam failed by the students was the only one in which full exam conditions for written work applied.

Once the failure rate became an issue an outside examiner reviewed the marking scheme and concurred with it.