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  3. (1)Here’s a smart idea to meet the ever-increasing demand for an English university education: let colleges charge what they lik

(1)Here’s a smart idea to meet the ever-increasing demand for an English university education: let colleges charge what they lik

admin2016-11-03  41
问题     (1)Here’s a smart idea to meet the ever-increasing demand for an English university education: let colleges charge what they like to those youngsters who are entitled to support from the student-loan system but who promise to forego any claim on it, and let them admit as many such students as they want. That is the wheeze(花招)David Willetts, the universities minister, unveiled recently.
    (2)At present, the state limits the number of places mat English universities can offer to students from Britain and the European Union, because it must provide these students with subsidised loans to cover the costs of their courses. For the same reason, it also limits the tuition fees that universities can charge British and European students. From next September, the cap on me fee will rise to ￡9,000 per year.
    (3)Meanwhile universities are free to set their own tuition fees for students from outside the European Union, and to enroll as many of them as they like. They have done so with gusto: the number of undergraduates from outside me European Union enrolled at English universities increased by 12% over me past four years, while me number from within the European Union rose just 7% over the same period. The tuition fees paid by international students can be eye-watering: me University of Oxford, for example, charges ￡12,700 per year for a degree in theology and ￡14,550 for each of me first three years of a medical degree, rising to ￡26,500 for each of me final three years.
    (4)Although Mr Willett’s ruse could help ease the squeeze on university places—demand is at a record high, according to me latest application figures—there are some obvious political pitfalls. Most crucially, it exposes Mr Willetts to me charge of being unfair. If Daddy’s little darling narrowly missed out on a place, Daddy could, if the university were willing, simply pay a higher tuition fee and cover the cost of her board and lodging(and, no doubt, dizzying social life)while at college. The same opportunity would be denied to the offspring of families who could not afford it.
    (5)So Mr Willetts is keen to point out the elements of the proposal that promote social mobility, not least because if he is to enact the plan, he must persuade his Liberal Democrat colleagues in the coalition government to go along with it. If those who could afford to pay for higher education did so, he argues, there would be more places available to those who needed state support to take up a university place.
    (6)Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s "Today" programme, Mr Willetts said, "I start from me view mat, by and large, more people going to university is a good thing for social mobility, I think going to university is a fantastic opportunity, and it is a particularly good thing for young people who have come from tough backgrounds and may have been let down by the school system. But anything we did, if this does go forward and, at me moment, these are just ideas being put to us, would have to pass the test of improving social mobility, not reversing it."
    (7)Alas Mr Willetts was unable to shake off the idea mat rich families might be able to buy a better education man their poorer counterparts. That is hardly surprising, given that it is the main reason for the existence of a flourishing privately-funded school system in the country, albeit one derided by me left-wing of Mr Willett’s coalition partners. Those parents with children in such schools argue, correctly, that they have paid taxes to support me publicly-funded school system in addition to finding me money to pay steep school fees. And the most expensive schools are just as hard to get into as, and even more pricey than, the elite universities: Eton, the prime minister’s alma mater, charges ￡30,000 per year in tuition. Of course, cheaper options are available: Dulwich College, for example, provides a perfectly sound alternative at half me price.
    (8)Turning away a family with funds to pay for university makes little sense financially. After all, higher education is a global business, and the tuition fees will follow the youngster wherever she wins a place. That works for England as well as elsewhere: the British daughter of a sufficiently wealthy man who narrowly failed to get into the English university of her choice could be considered for an international place, for example, if the family had a home abroad from which she could apply.
    (9)It may not yet be common for undergraduates, but postgraduates who narrowly miss out on a state-supported PhD place are admitted anyway if they can find funds from elsewhere. A friend who is involved with postgraduate admissions says he interviewed 40 people for six state-funded research programmes that will start in the autumn, of which 15 candidates were of an acceptable quality. He tells me that he expects to recruit five independently-funded students this year, in addition to the six state-funded ones. If this model were to be extended to undergraduates, Mr Willetts would want students to win sponsorship from companies and charities to pay for their education.
    (10)One last point. Foreign students enrolled at English universities have long complained—with fan-reason, in my opinion—that they are treated as "cash cows" that are milked to pay for the cut-price, state-subsidised but same-quality education offered to locals. In the politics of class war, persuading left-leaning voters that fat cats would have to pay more for the same education offered to the poor could yet prove popular.
The author’s attitude towards the universities minister’s proposal is _____.
选项 A、supportive
B、undecided
C、critical
D、neutral
答案C
解析 根据题干定位到全文。作者用了“wheeze”(花招)和“ruse”(诡计)等词描述Mr．Willet的提议，可见作者对其提议是批判的，所以C是正确答案。
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