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  3. When European education ministers met in Bologna in 1999 and promised within a decade to forge a common market for universities,

When European education ministers met in Bologna in 1999 and promised within a decade to forge a common market for universities,

admin2012-03-23  51
问题     When European education ministers met in Bologna in 1999 and promised within a decade to forge a common market for universities, it seemed mere Euro-rhetoric. Big obstacles stopped students nipping abroad for a term, or getting degrees recognized. Many countries offered no degree below Masters level. Some examined course modules separately, others all in one go. Under the Erasmus programmed many students traveled to other European countries for between a term and a year—but they often found their universities reluctant to give them credit for it.
    Yet on April 28th no fewer than 46 European education ministers—from the European Union and 19 other countries, including Russia and Turkey—will gather in another ancient university city, Leaven, to declare the "Bologna process" a triumph. A "European credit-transfer system" is on its way; next year will bring a "European higher education area". There will be a standardized "diploma supplement" giving details of what students have learnt. And three-year Bachelors degrees followed by two-year Masters are now the general rule, with few exceptions.
    "The big surprise was that the Bologna process worked at all," says Jean-Marc Rapp, president of the European University Association. Bologna is neither an inter-governmental treaty nor an EU law. It credits the eastern European countries that joined Bologna in 1999 for some of the success. Their governments were itching to reform communist-era universities and delighted to have a template for it and their students were wild to travel.
    Another reason why some governments embraced Bologna was to give cover for reforms they wanted anyway. Shorter, more work-related degrees appealed to the Germans, keen to stop students hanging on for years at taxpayers’ expense. In France, changes to university financing have been called "Bologna". In Spain "Bologna" is the excuse for introducing fees for Masters degrees.
    Many students now anathematize "Bologna" as a capitalist plot. They plan protests in given; already, students have taken to the streets in France, Italy, Spain and Greece. The resemblance to the Anglo-American system, plus Bologna’s emphasis on graduate employability, is big grievances. Some academics fret that the secret aim is to privatize universities. Bologna’s endorsement of more autonomy could lead (horrors!) to more freedom for universities in hiring, promotion and pay.
    Europe is littered with historic universities (Bologna is the oldest, founded in 1088). But the paucity of European institutions and the ubiquity of American ones at the top of international league tables are a constant reminder of the gap between glorious past and mediocre present. For believers, Bologna shows the way to a future that will be glorious once more.
    Yet this vision of self-governing universities, footloose students and job ready graduates omits one big reason for European universities’ decline: money. In America, the gap between what governments pay and what universities need is made up privately, mainly by tuition fees. In most of Europe students pay nothing. Even in England, tuition fees are capped by the government at low levels.
    Europe’s universities have seen funding per student fall behind wage inflation by 1—2% a year over three decades. America devotes far more of its GDP to higher education. Burgle, a Brussels-based think-tank, finds that universities carrying out top-class research and leading league tables have both more autonomy and more money. If Europe delivers only one of these, it may not be enough.
Why do some European governments accept Bologna?
选项 A、It brings shorter and more work-related degrees.
B、These governments all benefit from it in certain ways.
C、It saves money for taxpayers.
D、They want it as a replacement for reforms.
答案B
解析 推断题。回文定位到第四段。选项[B]“这些政府分别以一定的方式从中受益了”，原文“Another reason why some governrtiellts embraced Bologna was to give cover for reforms they wanted anyway”，意即他们正好可以以Bologna为契机展开他们想要的改革，后面提到不同的国家(如德国、西班牙等)都因此而使节省资金、征收学费等顺理成章，由此可见选项[B]符合文意，故为答案。选项[A]“博洛尼亚(会谈)引进了时间更短、与就业挂钩更密切的学位教育”，原文中是针对德国一个国家来说的，有利于德国节省教育开支，而非其他欧洲国家接受博洛尼亚(会谈)的原因，故排除；同样，选项[C]“为纳税人省钱”也是针对德国一个国家来说的，不具有普遍性，故排除；选项[D]“他们想用博洛尼亚(会谈)来代替(教育)改革”，而原文是他们借用博洛尼亚之名以便于展开改革，二者相冲突，故排除。
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