English as a second thought

Three years ago I started an MA in economics at a well-known university in London. As a foreign student I paid substantial fees and joined a class full of fellow "foreigners". My grasp of English was poor, though I only fully realised this while trying to understand a lecture on the market made to 200 other students. In short, I could not understand the course. I had to leave and come back when my level of understanding was sufficient to complete it. In retrospect I should not have been accepted in the first place: it was a waste of my money and time, as well as the time of my tutors who worked hard to improve my English, which was not part of their remit.

Muna Reyal

London