【外刊英语精读】英国大学经费改革 | UK university funding

Ministers to overhaul university funding after long consultation漫长磋商后，英国政府大臣将改革大学经费政策Ministers are to pave the way for an overhaul of university funding, with tuition-fee cuts, a cap on student numbers for certain courses and minimum qualifications among the options being considered in a soon-to-be-published consultation.在即将发布的磋商文件中，英国政府各大臣将准备整改大学经费制度，整改措施将会考虑削减学费、限制某些专业的学生数量以及设置最低录取门槛等选项。The long-awaited consultation document, intended as a response to the Augar review of tertiary funding, is to list potential policies designed to lower the cost to the government of financing England’s student loan system, after ministers and advisers failed to settle on a central option.为回应菲利普·欧格做出的对高等教育经费问题的评估，在各大臣和顾问未能就某核心方案达成一致的情况下，这份公众翘首以待的磋商文件中将列出一些可行的政策，以降低英国政府经费学生贷款的成本。Divisions between No 10, the Department for Education and the Treasury over alternative policies means the consultation is to include what one sector leader called “a menu of unpalatable options” that have been argued over behind the scenes for several months.首相、教育部以及财政部在一些可选政策上存在分歧，也就意味着这份磋商文件将会是一个所谓的“劣质选项大杂烩”，关于这些劣质选项，相关部门已经闭门争论几个月了。The options include a return to student-number controls, abandoned in 2015, as well as setting minimum entry requirements such as barring school-leavers without GCSE passes in maths or English from accessing student loans.这些选项包括重新限制入学学生人数（该政策曾在2015年取消），以及设置最低录取标准，例如，对那些未能通过普通中等教育证书数学或英语考试的学生，他们将没有资格申请学生贷款。The cut in undergraduate tuition fees recommended by the review conducted by Philip Augar in 2017 – from £9,250 down to £7,500 – is also among the options, including differential fees for certain courses such as nursing, sciences and maths, to encourage greater uptake.其他选项还包括减少本科阶段学费，从9250英镑削减至7500英镑，该方案则是由菲利普·欧格在2017年所实施的评估中提出的。除此之外，方案选项中也包括为某些专业课程（比如护理、理科类科目和数学）实施差别学费，从而增加此类专业的入学人数。Another option is freezing fees at their current level and letting inflation erode their value.还有方案认为要将学费保持在现有水平，随着通货膨胀，其价值自然就降低了。When tuition fees were set at £9,000 in 2012 the intention was for increases to keep pace with inflation.2012年将学费设定在9000英镑，目的就是使学费上涨与通货膨胀保持一致。But since being raised to £9,250 in 2016 ministers have refused to go further, meaning their real value has declined by 12%.但是自从2016年将学费上调至9250英镑，各大臣就决定不再上调学费，这就意味着其价值已经缩水了12%。The Treasury in particular is keen to lower its exposure to student loans by directly cutting fees and increasing repayments, while No 10 and the DfE appear to favour more indirect means such as minimum entry requirements and course caps.财政部尤其希望通过直接减少学费以及提高学生还款额，来减少其对学生贷款的经费，然而首相和教育部似乎更希望采取间接的方式，比如设置最低录取标准以及限制专业课程人数。Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, has raised using school grades as a bar for entry, saying he found it “hard to understand” why students unable to get a GCSE pass should be able to study at degree level at the age of 18.教育大臣加文·威廉姆森就提出方案，认为要使用考试成绩作为入学标准，他认为对于那些无法通过普通中等教育证书考试的学生，他们压根就没有能力在18岁参与大学课程的学习。“This is obviously something we’re going to be consulting on,” Williamson told a Higher Education Policy Institute conference last month.在上个月的高等教育政策研究所大会上，威廉姆森表示“很明显我们将会就这一点进行磋商。”The consultation comes as bumper numbers of school-leavers and older students apply for places on higher education courses, as revealed this week by the UCAS admissions service.根据本周大学及学院招生服务的数据，在磋商进行的同时，有大规模的高中应届毕业生和往届生在申请大学课程。About 44% of 18-year-olds in England have applied for places next autumn.在英格兰大学有44%的18岁学生已经申请了明年秋天入学的大学课程。前往小宇宙评论区与主播互动