首页
登录
职称英语
How Europe fails its young Those Europeans
How Europe fails its young Those Europeans
游客
2023-07-31
11
管理
问题
How Europe fails its young
Those Europeans who are tempted, in the light of the dismal scenes in New Orleans this fortnight, to downgrade the American challenge should meditate on one word: universities. Five years ago in Lisbon European officials proclaimed their intention to become the world’s premier "knowledge economy" by 2010. The thinking behind this grand declaration made sense of a sort: Europe’s only chance of preserving its living standards lies in working smarter than its competitors rather than harder or cheaper. But Europe’s failing higher-education system poses a lethal threat to this ambition.
Europe created the modem university. Scholars were gathering in Paris and Bologna before America was on the map. Oxford and Cambridge invented the residential university: the idea of a community of scholars, living together to pursue higher learning. Germany created the research university. A century ago European universities were a magnet for scholars and a model for academic administrators the world over.
But, as our survey of higher education explains, since the second world war Europe has progressively surrendered its lead in higher education to the United States. America boasts 17 of the world’s top 20 universities, according to a widely used global ranking by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. American universities currently employ 70% of the world’s Nobel prize-winners, 30% of the world’s output of articles on science and engineering, and 44% of the most frequently cited articles. No wonder developing countries now look to America rather than Europe for a model for higher education.
Why have European universities declined so precipitously in recent decades? And what can be done to restore them to their former glory? The answer to the first question lies in the role of the state. American universities get their funding from a variety of different sources, not just government but also philanthropists, businesses and, of course, the students themselves. European ones are largely state-funded. The constraints on state funding mean that European governments force universities to "process" more and more students without giving the TM the necessary cash—and respond to the universities’ complaints by trying to micromanage them. Inevitably, quality has eroded. Yet, as the American model shows, people are prepared to pay for good higher education, because they know they will benefit from it: that’s why America spends twice as much of its GDP on higher education as Europe does.
The answer to the second question is to set universities free from the state. Free universities to run their internal affairs: how can French universities, for example, compete for talent with their American rivals when professors are civil servants? And free them to charge fees for their services—including, most importantly, student fees.
Asia’s learning
The standard European retort is that if people have to pay for higher education, it will become the monopoly of the rich. But spending on higher education in Europe is highly regressive (more middle-class students go to university than working-class ones). And higher education is hardly a monopoly of the rich in America: a third of undergraduates come from racial minorities, and about a quarter come from families with incomes below the poverty line. The government certainly has a responsibility to help students to borrow against their future incomes. But student fees offer the best chance of pumping more resources into higher education. They also offer the best chance of combining equity with excellence.
Europe still boasts some of the world’s best universities, and there are some signs that policy makers have realised that their system is failing. Britain, the pacemaker in university reform in Europe, is raising fees. The Germans are trying to create a Teutonic Ivy League. European universities are aggressively wooing foreign students. Pan-European plans are encouraging student mobility and forcing the more eccentric European countries (notably Germany) to reform their degree structures. But the reforms have been too tentative.
America is not the only competition Europe faces in the knowledge economy. Emerging countries have cottoned on to the idea of working smarter as well as harder. Singapore is determined to turn itself into a "knowledge island". India is sprucing up its institutes of technology. In the past decade China has doubled the size of its student population while pouring vast resources into elite universities. Forget about catching up with America; unless Europeans reform their universities, they will soon be left in the dust by Asia as well. [br] A century ago European universities were a magnet for ______ and a model for ______ the world over.
选项
答案
scholars; academic administrators
解析
答案在第二段最后一句
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/2884445.html
相关试题推荐
[originaltext]M:YoumustbeprettyexcitedaboutyourtriptoEurope.Whenis
[originaltext]M:YoumustbeprettyexcitedaboutyourtriptoEurope.Whenis
[originaltext]M:YoumustbeprettyexcitedaboutyourtriptoEurope.Whenis
WeknowfromthefirstparagraphthatnorthEuropeansspendtheirsparetime___
WeknowfromthefirstparagraphthatnorthEuropeansspendtheirsparetime___
Europeansworkfewerhours,formoremoney,thaneverbefore.Whatdotheyd
What’stheauthor’sattitudetowardthefutureoftheeuroinEurope?[br]Accor
What’stheauthor’sattitudetowardthefutureoftheeuroinEurope?[br]In20
Europe’sMonetaryUnion(EMU)isahugeeconomicexperiment.Nobodyreallyknows
TwomostimpolitedriesinEuropeturnedouttobeMoscowandWarsaw.[br]From
随机试题
[originaltext]M:Goodmorning,Ms.Smith.Welcometotoday’sshow.W:Thankyo
Asmytrainwasn'tduetoleaveforanot
A.草绿色溶血环B.清晰透明的溶血环C.无溶血环D.形成菌膜E.出现沉淀细菌在血
2016年,我国全年完成邮电业务收入总量43344亿元,比上年增长52.7%。其
如右图甲、乙两个长方形的面积相等,甲的长与宽之比是5:4,乙的长与宽之比是6:5
标志着儿童思维真正发生的是()。A.词语概括的出现 B.直观概括的出现
(2018年真题)根据现行国家标准《消防给水及消火栓系统技术规范》(GB50
( )是一种岗位评价方法,适合于生产过程复杂,岗位类别、数目多的大中型企事业单
全国银行间债券市场债券回购交易的交收方式包括()A:见款付券B:券款对付C:
建平公司专注于铁路、电力、矿产、石油、机场、港口等行业的工程总承包业务,拥有30
最新回复
(
0
)