Summary:
Students at leading universities are being urged to speak up about lecturers whose accents are so thick they are affecting their grades.

Full article:
By . Jonathan Petre . Elite universities charging £9,000 a year for courses are employing overseas lecturers whose English is so poor that students cannot understand them, a Mail on Sunday investigation has found. Undergraduates complain  they are being robbed of good grades because of staff who have ‘thick accents’ and whose English is ‘incoherent’. A report written by bosses at Durham University, based  on responses to last year’s National Student Survey, said: ‘We need to consider the issue of staff who appear to struggle to express themselves in English. Claims: The complaint was raised in a student survey by students in Durham, pictured . ‘Students are extremely critical where they struggle to understand staff.’ Durham is not the only leading university where students have complained. Todd Davies, an undergraduate from Manchester University, wrote online that he found it difficult to understand his Asian lecturer’s English. And a maths student at Lancaster commented: ‘While it is amazing to be taught by international academics, sometimes their accents can add to the complexity of the module.’ Durham University said: ‘Only a very small number of the students made comments about the communication skills of their lecturers.’ Cost: Many students pay £9,000 a year for the cost of a university education (file photo)