International students are seen as a lucrative source of revenue as they pay at least three times the fees applicable to students with British or European Union nationalities.

While the fee for one-year social sciences postgraduate degree is 3000 pounds for a UK/EU student, an Indian or Chinese student will have to shell out nearly 9,000 pounds.

According to the Higher Education Policy Institute, international students bring nearly 1.5 billion pounds in fees and 2.2 billion pounds every year in living costs.

It is estimated that over 20,000 Indian students arrive in UK every year for studies. Academics say that most Indian students arrive with good English language skills, but the same is not the case for students from many countries such as China or south-east Asian countries.

Since income from international students is vital for many British universities, students with even poor English language skills or lower academic achievements are admitted.

There is a reluctance to fail such students, leading many of them to believe that "if you pay the fee, you will get a British degree". Employers in China and other countries have also raised concerns about the quality of job applicants with British degrees.

Peter Williams, chief executive of the Quality Assurance Agency, told the BBC: "There is a belief from some overseas students that if they pay their fees, they will get a degree. We have to make clear that does not operate here."

In a report, the Quality Assurance Agency said that there were concerns about some universities recruiting overseas students in an "unsustainable fashion". The report notes that one university has more than 40 per cent of its intake from overseas.

According to Williams, the problem "starts with recruitment". The use of agents to recruit international students could mean lowering standards.

But when universities depend on the fees from overseas students, he said it became a difficult problem. "The problem is that when agents are paid to recruit overseas students, they might be encouraged to take short cuts," he said.

Phil Willis, head of the parliamentary committee for Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills, says that ministers must "take seriously" the "fraud" of international students with poor English gaining postgraduate qualifications in Britain.