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英国大臣质疑大学教育价值
2008-12-23
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英国大臣质疑大学教育价值
英国《金融时报》戴维•特纳(David Turner)报道 2008-08-12
By David Turner 2008-08-12
The British universities secretary has acknowledged that some young people would be better off not going to university.
His comments come amid growing evidence many people from the country’s ever expanding pool of graduates are leaving university to go into menial, relatively low-paid jobs, while many bright young people who instead opt for some highly regarded apprenticeships are establishing thriving careers.
John Denham, whose title is secretary for innovation, universities and skills, told the Financial Times: “There are certainly young people who currently go to university who would have been better off on an Advanced Apprenticeship.”
He said: “We have been in danger of making it sound as if university is the only real aspiration.”
One in three UK graduates is in non-graduate work, according to research by Francis Green and Yu Zhu of Kent University that was published exclusively in the FT last year. They also found that almost six in 10 art and design graduates were overqualified for their occupations. Young people who have attended the less prestigious modern universities, which were polytechnics until 1992, are three times as likely to end up in non-graduate jobs as Oxbridge graduates. The wide variation in future earnings power has disillusioned some graduates.
Successive Conservative and Labour governments have aggressively expanded the number of universities and students, saying that graduates will learn high-level skills that boost the economy. Cynics have argued that ministers have also been motivated by the desire to please middle-class voters, whose children have benefited disproportionately from the arrival of mass higher education.
Mr Denham emphasised that “we’re absolutely committed to our 50 per cent target” – its long-held aspiration that half of all young people should go into higher education. The proportion has stalled at about 40 per cent in recent years, after growing strongly in the 1990s. He also suggested that some school leavers might benefit from first doing an apprenticeship before going to university later in their careers.
英国大学事务大臣承认，有些年轻人不上大学境况会更好。
此间，越来越多证据显示，英国不断扩大的大学毕业生队伍中，有许多人离开学校后从事的是低下乏味、酬劳相对较低的工作。而许多聪明的年轻人选择学习一些倍受重视的技能，反而建立了蒸蒸日上的事业。
创新、大学和技能事务大臣约翰•德纳姆(John Denham)向英国《金融时报》表示：“的确有一些正在上大学的年轻人，如果去学习高级技能的话，境况会更好。”
他表示：“一直以来，我们处于一种风险中：让上大学听起来像是唯一真正有抱负的选择。”
肯特大学(Kent University)弗朗西斯•格林(Francis Green)和Yu Zhu的研究显示，英国三分之一的大学毕业生从事的是不需要大学文凭的工作。这项研究去年在英国《金融时报》上独家发表。他们同样发现，对于他们的职业来说，六分之一的艺术与设计专业毕业生资历过高。就读于名气较小现代大学的年轻人最终从事不需要大学文凭工作的可能性，是牛津剑桥毕业生的3倍。这些名气较小的大学在1992年前是理工院校。未来收入能力的巨大差距已经令一些毕业生大失所望。
连续几任保守党和工党政府都积极扩充大学和学生数量，声称毕业生学到的高级技能将推动经济增长。讥讽者认为，大臣们还受到取悦中产阶级选民的渴望驱使，这些选民的子女从高等教育普及中获得的益处特别多。
德纳姆强调称，“我们绝对信奉50%的目标”——这是政府长期坚持的目标，即半数的年轻人都应接受高等教育。上世纪90年代，这一比例强劲增长，但近几年在40%左右停滞不前。德纳姆还指出，某些中学毕业生若先学习专业技能，稍后再去大学学习，可能会从中获益。
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