University expansion

　　BRITAIN’S universities are in an awful spin. Top universities were overwhelmed by the 24% of A-level applicants sporting indistinguishable straight As; newer ones are beating the byways for bodies.

　　Curiously, both images of education—the weeping willows of Cambridge and the futuristic architecture of UEL—are cherished by the government. Ministers want to see half of all young people in universities by 2010 (numbers have stalled at 42%), without relinquishing the world�瞔lass quality of its top institutions.

　　Many argue that the two goals are incompatible without spending a lot more money. Researchers scrabble for funds, and students complain of large classes and reduced teaching time. To help solve the problem, the government agreed in 2004 to let universities increase tuition fees.

　　Though low, the fees have introduced a market of sorts into higher education. Universities can offer cut-price tuition, although most have stuck close to the $3,000. Other incentives are more popular. Newcomers to St Mark & St John, a higher-education college linked to Exeter University, will receive free laptops.

　　As universities enter the third week of “clearing” , the marketing has become weirder. Bradford University is luring students with the chance of winning an MP3 player in a prize draw. Plymouth University students visited Cornish seaside resorts, tempting young holiday-makers with surfboards and cinema vouchers. These offers suggest that supply has outstripped demand.

　　Not so the top universities that make up the “Russell group”, however. Their ranks include the likes of Imperial College London and Bristol University along with Oxford and Cambridge. Swamped with applicants, only half offer any places through clearing. They have a different problem: they need money to compete for high�瞔alibre students and academics, both British and foreign, who could be tempted overseas by better�瞙eeled American universities or fast�瞚mproving institutions in developing countries such as India.

　　Higher fees and excess supply are causing students to look more critically at just what different universities have to offer. And the crunch could become more acute. The number of 18-year-olds in Britain will drop around 2010 and decline over the following ten years, according to government projections.

　　Bahram Bekhradnia, the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, a think�瞭ank, says the government hasn’t a hope of getting 50% of young Britons into higher education by 2010. And the decline of home-grown student numbers will have a “differential effect” on universities, he reckons. Those at the bottom end will have to become increasingly “innovative” about whom they admit and some may not survive.

　　The Cambridge shades evoked by Rupert Brooke were gentle, nostalgic ones. Many vice�瞔hancellors today are pursued by far more vengeful spectres of empty campuses, deserted laboratories, failed institutions. Markets, after all, create winners—and losers.

　　考研詞匯：

　　awful[ˈɔ:ful]

　　a.①極度的，極壞的，糟糕的;②威嚴的，可怕的;ad.十分，極度地

　　overwhelm [ˌəuvəˈwelm]

　　vt. 淹沒, 覆沒, 受打擊, 制服, 壓倒

　　curiously[ˈkjuəriəsli]

　　ad.好奇地

　　imperial[imˈpiəriəl]

　　a.皇帝的;帝國的

　　swamp[swɔmp]

　　n.沼澤, 濕地, 煤層聚水;v.陷入沼澤, 淹沒, 覆沒

　　acute[əˈkju:t]

　　a.①敏銳的，尖銳的;②(疾病)急性的

　　[真題例句]Acute (①) foreign observers related American adaptiveness and inventiveness to this educational advantage.[1996年閱讀4]

　　[例句精譯] 目光敏銳的外國觀察家把美國人的適應能力和創新能力與這種教育優勢聯系起來。

　　innovative [ˈinəuveitiv]

　　a.創新的, 革新(主義)的

　　背景常識介紹：

　　20世紀80年代英國進行了教育市場化和教育私有化。隨后的20多年是英國高等教育實施激烈的市場化改革并取得初步成效的時期;同時1988年通過的教育改革法和1992年通過的高等教育改革法，則更是明確要求英國教育轉向完全面向市場的體制。政府經過近30年的改革實踐，現已逐步改變原來的政府負債局面，走上了良性發展的軌道。

　　參考譯文：

　　大學擴張

　　英國大學正處在一種糟糕的迷惑狀態。頂尖大學申請者人滿為患，其中成績清一色全A的A級生比例高達24%;新興大學則為生源爭得頭破血流。

　　奇怪的是，教育界兩個景象迥異的學校——垂柳依依的劍橋和建筑前衛的UEL——都是政府扶植的對象。部長們希望2010年半數年輕人能讀大學(目前大學生比例在42%左右)，同時保證頂尖學府的世界級質量。

　　許多人指出要同時實現兩個目標須花費更多的錢。研究人員需要錢，學生抱怨大班上課和課時縮減。為解決該問題，政府于2004年同意大學提高學費。

　　學費雖然不高，卻已經引來了高等教育的初級市場。盡管多數大學的學費已經固定在接近3000鎊的價位，但仍可以減少學費。其他激勵措施則更為流行。St Mark & St John大學(與Exeter大學合作的高等教育學院)的新生可以免費獲得筆記本電腦。

　　當大學進入“調劑”的第三周，市場經營手段也更加新奇。Bradford大學用抽獎贏MP3的活動來吸引學生。Plymouth大學的學生造訪Cornish海濱度假村，用沖浪板和影院優惠券來吸引年輕度假人士。種種好處暗示大學市場供大于求。

　　構成“羅素聯盟”的頂尖大學卻不是這樣。該聯盟包括諸如倫敦帝國大學，Bristol大學，牛津大學以及劍橋大學等名校。由于申請者眾多，所以只有半數學校在調劑階段還在招人。這些學校則面對不同的問題：他們需要錢去爭奪英國乃至海外的高才生和優秀教師，這些人容易被更富有的美國大學和發展中國家(如印度)高速發展的學校所吸引。

　　更高的學費和供大于求導致學生在挑選學校的時候更為慎重，所以競爭將更為激烈。而政府預計2010年起英國18歲年輕人的數量將開始逐年減少，并持續10年之久。

　　高等教育政策學會(一個智囊機構)主任Bahram Bekhradnia說，政府在2010年達成讓50%的英國年輕人讀大學的目標渺茫。他估計，本土大學生數量的減少將對大學產生“差異化效應”。那些在底層的大學在招生上將不得不變得更富于創新，而其中的一些可能會慘遭淘汰。

　　Rupert Brooke所喚起的劍橋記憶是溫柔而懷舊的。如今許多大學校長則更多地被空蕩蕩的校園、荒廢的實驗室、廢止的機構里的幽靈所追逐。畢竟，市場成就勝者，也造就敗者。