University students have been shamed with a list of exam blunders including references to "escape goats" and claims that railways were invented to relieve pressure on motorways.

Among the gems from this year's exams are an economics student at City University in London who attributed Northern Rock's downfall to "laxative enforcement policies".

An English literature student from Bath Spa University wrote that Margaret Atwood's book, The Handmaid's Tale, shows how patriarchy treats women as escape goats.

A University of Southampton student concerned by global warming wrote that: "Tackling climate change will require an unpresidented response."

And a fellow undergraduate concerned by the threat of diseases, wrote: "Control of infectious diseases is very important in case an academic breaks out."

Students at St Helens College of Art and Design were asked to outline the importance of the railway in 19th-century Britain.

One wrote: "The railways were invented to bring the Irish from Dublin to Liverpool where they were promptly arrested for being vagrants", while another responded: "The railways were invented to take the weight off the motorways."

They have all been entered in the Truer than Intended section of the Times Higher Education's revived "exam howlers" competition.

Deputy editor Phil Baty said: "This is simply meant to be a fun snapshot of what students come out with when under pressure, although many of our readers would agree that academic standards of literacy have got a lot worse and there is research suggesting it as well."