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英國大學(xué)反駁教育不公論中英雙語
Poor pupils 'being set up to fail', top university warns
Forcing universities to admit rising numbers of teenagers with lower entry grades risks setting them up to “fail”, one of Britain's most prestigious institutions has warned.
In an unprecedented intervention, St Andrews University in Scotland said it was “utterly dishonest” to dumb down admissions requirements to create a more socially-balanced student body.
Problems with children’s upbringing and schooling were to blame for a lack of working-class students claiming places at the country’s elite universities, it was claimed.
Stephen Magee, St Andrews’ vice-principal with responsibility for admissions, said that politicians could not continue to “l(fā)ay responsibility for widening access solely at the door of universities”.
It represents the strongest criticism yet levelled by an individual university towards policies designed to force institutions to boost access to students from the poorest families.
SNP ministers in Edinburgh are demanding that Scottish universities sign new “outcome agreements” that will see them given public funding on the condition they agree to “widen access”.
It reflects a similar process in England where universities have been forced to draw up targets to boost the number of disadvantaged students admitted each year in return for retaining the power to charge up to ￡9,000 in tuition fees.
Prof Les Ebdon, head of the Government’s Office for Fair Access, has told the most sought-after universities to set the most “stretching” targets.
Speaking at a conference in London on Monday, he said the overall number of poor pupils admitted into higher education had increased by a third over the last decade but insisted numbers had failed to rise at the most prestigious institutions.
Data published earlier this year by the Higher Education Statistics Agency revealed that more than half of top universities recruited fewer pupils from the very poorest families in 2010/11. Two-thirds of institutions belonging to the elite Russell Group also recruited proportionally fewer state school students.
St Andrews, whose alumni include the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, has faced fierce criticism in Scotland for admitting only 14 children from the poorest backgrounds last year.
英國一家最具聲望的高校提醒稱，強迫大學(xué)接受越來越多的貧困學(xué)生入學(xué)會讓大學(xué)最終“失敗”。
位于蘇格蘭的圣安德魯斯大學(xué)表示，降低入學(xué)難度，從而使學(xué)生群體在社會化方面更加平衡，這樣做是“完全不誠實的”。這是這所大學(xué)首次對此予以反駁。
該校表示，工薪階層的孩子能進入頂尖大學(xué)的機會少，主要是因為孩子的養(yǎng)育和學(xué)校教育問題。
圣安德魯斯大學(xué)的副校長史蒂芬-麥基負責(zé)該校的招生問題。他說，政治人士不能繼續(xù)“把各階層的學(xué)生入學(xué)差距加大的問題僅僅歸咎于學(xué)校招生。”
英國有關(guān)政策規(guī)定高校要增加來自窮困家庭的學(xué)生人數(shù)，這是來自單個大學(xué)對此政策的最強有力的批評。
英國愛丁堡蘇格蘭民族黨的部長們要求蘇格蘭大學(xué)簽署新的“結(jié)局協(xié)議”，按照該協(xié)議，如果大學(xué)同意“擴大招生來源”，將得到公用基金。
這反映出在英格蘭，大學(xué)也被要求草擬目標，提高每年來自貧困家庭的大學(xué)生人數(shù)，以此保留每年收取最多九千英鎊學(xué)費的權(quán)利。
英國政府公平入學(xué)辦公室的萊斯-艾布頓教授告訴最受歡迎的各所大學(xué)，要把目標定到最高。
本周一他在倫敦出席會議時說，在過去十年，讀大學(xué)的貧困家庭學(xué)生總數(shù)增加了1/3，但他認為在最頂尖的高校機構(gòu)，這一數(shù)字沒能實現(xiàn)增長。
英國高等教育統(tǒng)計局今年早些時候公布的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，在2010至2011年度，超過半數(shù)頂尖高校招收的貧困學(xué)生減少。最頂尖的羅素大學(xué)集團中，2/3的高校招收公立學(xué)校的學(xué)生比例減少。
圣安德魯斯大學(xué)的畢業(yè)生包括威廉王子夫婦，去年因為僅接收了14名貧困學(xué)生而受到指責(zé)。
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