英國收緊學生簽證是不智之舉

What products and services will Britain sell in the post-Brexit world? Car exporters fear for their futures outside the EU’s single market and customs union. Financial institutions talk of pulling back to New York or moving to Frankfurt if they were to lose their passporting rights.

在后英國退歐時代，英國能出售什么產(chǎn)品和服務呢?汽車出口商擔憂它們被排除在歐盟(EU)單一市場和關(guān)稅同盟之外的未來。金融機構(gòu)談論如果它們失去“通關(guān)權(quán)”，就撤回到紐約或者轉(zhuǎn)移到法蘭克福。

Fortunately, Britain still has a world-leading export industry: higher education — an appreciating asset when a quarter of the world’s population speaks English, millions more are learning and many want to study outside their home countries. With the pound plunging, British education looks particularly attractive.

幸運的是，英國還有一個世界領(lǐng)先的出口產(chǎn)業(yè)：高等教育。這是一項正在增值的資產(chǎn)，世界上有四分之一的人口說英語，此外還有大量人正在學習英語，其中許多人想在本國以外學習。隨著英鎊暴跌，英國教育看起來格外有吸引力。

Or it would do, if Theresa May’s Conservative government had not chosen last week to give this vital UK business a good thumping. Amber Rudd, the home secretary, told the Conservative party conference that the government was considering a two-tier student visa system, “making sure our world-leading institutions can attract the brightest and the best . . . while looking at tougher rules for students on lower-quality courses”.

或者，事情本該如此，如果特里薩•梅(Theresa May)的保守黨政府近期沒有選擇給這個重要行業(yè)一記重擊的話。內(nèi)政大臣安伯•拉德(Amber Rudd)在保守黨會議上表示，政府正在考慮兩級學生簽證制度，“確保我們世界領(lǐng)先的院校能夠吸引最聰明和最優(yōu)秀的學生……同時對質(zhì)量較低的課程的學生實施較嚴的規(guī)則”。

For those unfamiliar with the class structure of UK universities, there are two broad groups. There are those that have always called themselves universities, including the Russell Group of top research institutions that boasts star performers such as Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College.

對于那些不熟悉英國大學課程結(jié)構(gòu)的人而言，英國的院校分為兩大類。有一類一直以來都自稱為大學，包括由頂尖研究型院校組成的羅素大學集團(Russell Group)，其中有牛津(Oxford)、劍橋(Cambridge)和倫敦帝國理工學院(Imperial College London)等明星院校。

And there are those that used to be called polytechnics, but which have, since 1992, been allowed to call themselves universities too. It is their offerings that Ms Rudd appears to be referring to when she talks of “lower-quality courses”.

還有一些院校過去被稱為理工學院，但在1992年以后，這些院校也被允許自稱為大學。拉德在談到“質(zhì)量較低的課程”時，看起來指的就是這類院校的課程。

That the new universities are not up to much is an article of faith among many who have never studied, taught at or visited them. (Although they are called “new” universities, many have been around for a long time.) Those who have had some contact with these institutions (I am married to a lecturer at one) know that while they have some below-par courses — just as some of the old universities do — the former polytechnics have their own strengths. These include linking students with employers early on in their degrees.

許多從未在那里學習、授課或者造訪的人的信條是這類新大學不怎么樣。(盡管它們被稱為“新”大學，很多院校已經(jīng)創(chuàng)立了很長時間。)那些和這類院校有某種關(guān)聯(lián)的人(我與其中一所院校的一名講師結(jié)婚了)知道，盡管這些院校有一些低于平均水平的課程——正如一些歷史悠久的大學一樣——這些前身為理工學院的院校有自身的優(yōu)勢。比如能夠在學位課程的早期就把學生與雇主聯(lián)系起來。

Many of these courses support the economy of the future. These institutions also ensure the leading faculty members do their fair share of teaching and provide extensive support to poorer students.

很多這些課程支持著未來的經(jīng)濟。這些院校還確保最杰出的教師承擔他們應該承擔的教學工作，并為貧困學生提供廣泛的支持。

If Mrs May is as keen as she says she is on “every single person — regardless of their background, or that of their parents — [being] given the chance to be all they want to be”, she should look after the institutions that do most to lift people up. According to MillionPlus, the campaign group, two-thirds of their students come from lower-income households. That social mobility the Conservatives talk about? Much of it happens at the new universities.

如果梅真如她本人所說，熱心于“讓每一個人——無論他們個人和他們父母的背景如何——有機會成為他們想成為的人”，她就應該對那些為提升個人做得最多的院校給予照顧。根據(jù)活動組織MillionPlus的數(shù)據(jù)，這些院校三分之二的學生都來自低收入家庭。保守黨說到社會流動性?很多社會流動就發(fā)生在這些新大學中。

Foreign students are crucial to their mission: 10 per cent of their undergraduates and 29 per cent of their postgraduates come from outside the UK. Making it harder for these students to get visas (and universities say that the existing visa regime is already putting foreign students off) will imperil many of their courses, as well as the jobs of both academic and non-academic staff.

外國學生對這些院校的使命非常重要：它們10%的本科生和29%的研究生來自英國以外。讓這些學生更難獲得簽證(且這些大學表示現(xiàn)在的簽證制度已經(jīng)在阻擋外國學生)會危及許多它們的課程，以及教學與非教學人員的工作崗位。

The new universities are not the only sector under attack. The government also wants a stricter visa regime for those coming to the UK to learn English.

新大學并非唯一一個受到?jīng)_擊的行業(yè)。政府還希望對那些前往英國學習英語的人實施更嚴格的簽證制度。

There have been some bogus language schools over the years, and the government has rightly shut many of them down. But there are plenty of decent ones. According to a report commissioned by English UK, the language centres association, there are more than 550 accredited and inspected English language teaching centres in the UK, including private and state schools, further education colleges, universities and summer camps.

多年來英國一直有一些冒牌的語言學校，政府關(guān)閉了其中的許多學校，這樣做是正確的。但英國還有很多正規(guī)的語言學校。根據(jù)語言中心聯(lián)盟English UK委托撰寫的研究報告，英國有超過550所經(jīng)過認證和檢驗的英語語言教學中心，包括私立和公立學校、繼續(xù)教育學院、大學和夏令營。

Of the more than 1.4m students learning English outside their home countries in 2014, more than a third came to the UK, spending £1.2bn on fees, accommodation and living costs.

在2014年逾140萬在本國以外學習英語的學生中，超過三分之一前往英國學習，并在學費、住宿費和生活費上花費12億英鎊。

Why is the government so oblivious to the damage that keeping these students out will cause? Because it insists on counting students as immigrants and is trying to bring immigration down. Mrs May refused to take students out of the immigration statistics when she was home secretary and is unlikely to do so as prime minister, even though opinion polls show the majority of Britons do not see students as immigrants and are happy for them to come.

為什么政府對把這些學生拒之門外造成的損失渾不在意?因為政府堅持把這些學生看作移民，而政府正努力減少移民。梅在擔任內(nèi)政大臣時拒絕把學生移出移民統(tǒng)計，她任首相時也不太可能改弦易轍，即使民調(diào)顯示大多數(shù)英國人并不把學生視為移民，并且歡迎他們的到來。

If the UK no longer wants these university or English-language students, there are other countries that do. It is not only the UK’s traditional competitors in English-speaking countries such as the US, Canada and Australia that are willing to take them. Universities from the Netherlands to China are offering courses in English. You can attend English language schools almost everywhere.

如果英國不再想要這些大學生或者英語語言學校的學生，還有其他國家想要接納他們。不僅僅是美國、加拿大和澳大利亞等英國在英語國家內(nèi)的傳統(tǒng)競爭對手愿意接納他們。從荷蘭到中國等國的大學也正提供英語課程。你幾乎可以在任何地方上英語語言學校。

Many of these institutions must have feared the weak pound would give UK education a competitive boost. They will doubtless see the government’s self-sabotage as the best news they have had in years.

很多這類機構(gòu)之前一定擔心，疲弱的英鎊將提高英國教育的競爭力。毫無疑問，英國政府的自毀長城將成為它們多年來聽到的最好的消息。