英国高校校长反对移民限制

Leading vice-chancellors have warned that immigration restrictions on foreign students could derail the UK universities sector at a time when it is “just at the start of what could be a significant international higher education boom.

多名英国顶级高校校长警告，在目前正“迎来可能是一次重要的国际高等教育高速增长期之际，针对留学生的移民限制政策可能妨碍英国大学的发展。

Sir Steve Smith, vice-chancellor of the University of Exeter, said: “If you want to grow the UK’s exports, it’s probably the best bet. If we were making cars or widgets, the government would be right behind us.

英国埃克赛特大学(University of Exeter)校长史蒂夫·史密斯爵士(Sir Steve Smith)表示：“如果你想增加英国的出口，押注高等教育行业可能是最佳选择。如果我们要制造轿车或小器具，政府也会非常支持我们。

He added: “We’ve got to move the politics on regarding immigration restrictions. We are in danger of repeating the mistakes made by the Americans in early 2000s.

他补充道：“我们必须推动政界在移民限制上有所动作。我们面临着重复美国人在本世纪最初10年所犯错误的危险。

The US tightened immigration after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Its foreign student numbers, which had increased 6 per cent in 2002, slowed to a 1 per cent rise in 2003 and declined in the following years. Students poured into the UK and Australia.

2001年恐怖袭击之后，美国对移民的控制更加严格。美国的外国留学生人数2002年增加6%，2003年增幅降至1%，此后几年人数持续下降。大批外国留学生流向了英国和澳大利亚。

Concerns about immigration restrictions have been heightened after the revocation of London Metropolitan University’s status as a sponsor of student visas – a decision that is now being challenged. Tensions were already high because of the government’s migration target.

英国取消伦敦城市大学(London Metropolitan University)为海外学生提供签证担保的资格之后，各界对移民限制措施的担忧有所加剧。这一决定目前正受到质疑。政府制定的移民目标此前已在英国造成了很紧张的局面。

Edward Acton, vice-chancellor of the University of East Anglia, said: “It’s not possible to meet the immigration target without cutting students, partly because they have been contributing at least 60 per cent of net migration.

英国东英吉利大学(University of East Anglia)校长爱德华·埃克顿(Edward Acton)表示：“如果不减少外国留学生的数量，移民目标不大可能实现，部分原因在于他们在净移民人数中所占比例起码达到60%。

Demand from prospective students is soaring. In 2006, India, China, South Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam sent 478,000 students to the UK, US, Canada and Australia. By 2011, the figure had hit 732,000. The Parthenon Group, a consultancy, expects this to reach 972,000 in 2017.

潜在留学生对高等教育的需求正在激增。2006年，印度、中国、韩国、马来西亚和越南共向英国、美国、加拿大和澳大利亚输送了47.8万名留学生。到2011年，这个数字达到了73.2万。咨询公司巴特农集团(Parthenon Group)预测，2017年此数字将达到97.2万。

Karan Khemka, head of Parthenon’s international education practice, said: “There have always been several hundred thousand students on full scholarships, the hyper-smart engineering PhD candidates. The increase, he says, has been in full fee payers, the most lucrative category of students.

巴特农集团国际教育业务主管卡兰·凯莫卡(Karan Khemka)表示：“总有几十万名学生获得全额奖学金，他们都特别聪明，未来有可能拿下工程学博士学位。他表示，新增加的留学生都是全额自费生，这是对学校增收贡献最大的群体。

It is not only the top universities that can tap into this growth. Parthenon’s analysis of enrolments found that 62 per cent of international students in the US were at institutions outside the top 100, and 44 per cent were outside the top 200. Mr Khemka said: “We can sell Bolton like it’s the south of France.

能从留学生激增中获益的并不局限于顶级大学。巴特农集团分析高校入学情况后发现，在美国的国际留学生当中，有62%的人就读于排名在100名以外的学院，有44%的人就读于排名200名以外的学院。凯莫卡表示：“我们可以推介博尔顿大学(Bolton)，仿佛它在法国南部。

Investors have also spotted this potential. A Whitehall roundtable on higher education exports attracted two representatives from Goldman Sachs, and one from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund.

投资机构也看到了这一增长潜力。一场英国政府的高等教育出口圆桌会议，吸引到了两名高盛(Goldman Sachs)代表和一名加拿大安大略省教师养老基金(Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund)代表。

Investors are interested in partnering with universities, particularly in providing “pathway programmes. These one-year courses are designed to bring able students with poor English or weak skills up to speed.

投资机构感兴趣的是与大学进行合作，尤其是在提供“预科培训项目方面。这些为期一年的课程旨在帮那些有才华但英语水平差或者技能不足的学生赶上进度。

Prof Acton said UEA’s partner, Into, had “financed a teaching block and accommodation for students on pathway programmes on campus, and they do marketing for the pathway courses in regions in which we would otherwise have much less presence.

埃克顿教授表示，东英吉利大学的合作伙伴Into“提供了资金，帮我们为前来读预科项目的学生在校内兴建了一座教学大楼和住宿设施；他们还在一些我们原本无力企及的地区推销预科培训项目。

The University of Ulster has entered a partnership with the for-profit QA Business School. It teaches degree courses in London and Birmingham that are accredited by the university.

阿尔斯特大学(University of Ulster)已与盈利性质的QA Business School展开合作，该项目在伦敦和伯明翰教授学位课程，学生可以获得阿尔斯特大学授予的学位。

University Partnerships Programme, a builder and manager of halls of residence and university infrastructure, sets up special purposes companies to manage its holdings in which universities take minority shareholdings. Jon Wakeford, director of strategy at UPP, said: “We have never been a private finance initiative because that does not fit with what universities want. We’re taking a risk on students wanting to keep coming into the specific universities we’re in partnership with.

University Partnerships Programme(UPP)是一家建造和管理学生宿舍和大学基础设施的公司，它设立一些特殊目的公司管理自己在上述设施的持股，而大学持少数股份。UPP战略主管乔恩·韦克福德(Jon Wakeford)表示：“我们从来都不采取私人融资计划(Private Finance Initiative)形式，因为那不符合大学的需要。我们在承担一种风险，押注的是不断会有学生愿意到与我们合作的特定大学学习。

Those schemes are attractive to longer-term investors. The insurer Aviva put up ￡184.6m to back a 125-year partnership with University of Reading.

这些合作办学项目对长期投资者也有吸引力。保险公司英杰华(Aviva)斥资1.846亿英镑，与英国里丁大学(University of Reading)建立了为期125年的合作伙伴关系。