ATL

Foreign students 'copying phrases on personal statements'

02 September 2010

Some international students are enhancing their personal statements by copying phrases from university websites, a new study has revealed.

Researchers at Surrey University studied 60 personal statements that were submitted by postgraduate course candidates at a business school.

Academics compared the material to the content of the university's website and found that many phrases were duplicated.

The majority of applications in this case were made by Chinese students.

One candidate said the institution allows "students to develop their competencies for working in multinational and multicultural environments". Similar wording was found on the university's own website.

"Personal statements provide an opportunity to give reasons but they tend to be the reasons the applicant might think the admissions tutors want to hear," the study concluded.

University applications increased by 11.6 per cent over the last year, according to Ucas.

Approximately 150,000 people are expected to be left without a place.