《经济学人》（The Economist）是一份创办于1843年的英国杂志，主要关注政治和商业方面的新闻。它是英语专业学生课外阅读的必备刊物，更是考研英语命题小组最钟爱的题源，历年考研真题中几乎有一半的文章都选自《经济学人》。

Higher education is embracing private suppliers—but timidly.The first batch of 60 undergraduates at the New College of the Humanities in Bloomsbury, London’s main university quarter, occupy a spacious Georgian house.

译文： 高等教育欢迎私立大学办学者—但是仍显怯懦。在伦敦布鲁斯伯里的大学主城区，第一批进入新人文学院的60名大学生就有了宽敞的教学场所--一栋乔治时代的建筑。

Opening doors on the way up a grand staircase, your reporter eavesdropped on tutorials on ancient Greece, Romantic poets and economic theory. It feels like a dinky version of an august academic institution. Yet it is a for-profit organisation with a chief executive huddled over spreadsheets downstairs.

译文： 走入敞开的大门，扶着一个壮观的楼梯而上，本报的记者悄悄旁听了一会古代希腊、罗马诗歌、经济理论的课程。感觉就像一个极小的庄严的学术学院。然而这是一个盈利学院，一位首席执行官在楼下忙碌地处理一些数据。

The college’s founder is Anthony Grayling (shown above), a philosopher who wants to introduce a bit of diversity to a largely state-funded higher education system. A new high-end entrant in the marketplace also helps fill the gap in provision for students with good qualifications who lose out by a grade or two in the brutal race for places in the Russell Group of top universities. Degrees are awarded through the University of London, but at 18,000 pounds ($28,550) fees are double the maximum that state-subsidized universities can charge. The syllabus is broader and more akin to an American liberal-arts college than a traditional English university.

译文： 该大学的创办者名为安东尼·格雷林（Anthony Grayling）（见图），这位哲学家希望为大范围的公立为主的高等教育体系引入一些多元化元素。一些优秀学生由于在罗素大学（ Russell Group ）集团的残酷竞争中相差一二分而落榜，在教育市场上这位高端新入者为这些学生填补了空缺。学位证书通过伦敦大学颁发，但是费用高达18000英镑（28550 美元），是国立大学补助最高费用的2倍。与传统的英国大学相比，这个教学大纲更宽广，更类似于美国自由艺术大学。

This kind of disruptive innovation earns a mixed reception. The coalition government welcomes it. But Terry Eagleton, an outspoken Marxist academic, describes the venture as “odious” and divisive. Other critics have pointed out that courses at Mr Grayling’s New College closely resemble what is on offer, more cheaply, at the existing London university colleges. Two-thirds of the first intake of students come from private schools and just 22% from state schools (the rest are foreigners and mature students). Mr Grayling hopes to counter the “too posh” charge with outreach initiatives and generous bursaries for poorer students.

译文： 人们对这种破坏性的创新说法不一。联合政府对此表示欢迎，但一个直言不讳的马克思主义学者Terry Eagleton认为这种风险是“令人讨厌的”，不和谐的。其他批评家指出，相比格雷林的新学院，伦敦大学目前也提供类似且更为经济的课程。第一批学生中三分之二来自私立学校，只有22%来自国立学校（ 剩下的国外学生和成年学生）。面对这些‘过于冠冕堂皇’的批评，格雷林希望以积极实践创新以及面向贫困生的丰厚奖学金予以反驳。

The newcomer epitomizes a broadening of higher education, aided by a rise in maximum fees to 9,000 pounds that makes students (and their parents) look around for value for money. The government has also eased rules on what qualifies as a university. The newly named University of Law, an outfit with several regional centres, is backed by a private-equity firm and offers two-year degree courses for highly motivated or cash-strapped students. Its hard sell stands out among more conventional university branding: the college’s website touts a graduate legal qualification as if it were a soap powder—“Now with Masters included”.Other institutions such as BPP University College, which bestows professional qualifications from accountancy to chiropractic, were given degree-awarding powers by the last Labour government, but now want full university status.

译文： 这个新的教学是英国广泛高等教育的缩影，学费普遍上涨，最高达到9,000英镑，让学生们以及家长们考虑这个钱是不是值得。政府同样放宽了对作为合格大学的政策。新被命名的法律大学，包含几个的地区中心，是由私募股权公司赞助的，为积极性高或者资金紧张的学生提供两年的学位课程。这个强行推销学位的大学在其它更加传统的大学中引人注目：学院网站上兜售着合法的研究者证书，似乎是广告中的肥皂粉一样，现在有硕士学位证书了。其它譬如BPP大学的机构，上届工党政府给予学位奖金的权力，可以授予从审计到脊椎神经学的专业证书，但是现在希望获得一个全日制的大学身份。

And the line between private and state-funded higher education is blurring in other ways. Established institutions including Imperial College, London and University College are also thriving businesses, cross-subsidising studies and research which do not make money. Oxfordhas initiated a joint Master’s course in law and finance, crammed into nine months and costing a hefty 21,000 pounds.

译文： 并且私人办学和政府资助的高等教育的界限在其它方面也很模糊。包括帝国理工大学、伦敦大学在内的老牌大学发展得如火如荼，但是交叉补贴的教育与研究却并不赚钱。牛津大学已经开始了一个法律财务的双硕士课程，课程勉勉强强只有有九个月，费用却高达21000英镑。

Much has changed since the independent University of Buckingham (a non-profit operator) launched 30 years ago, teaching mainly business and economics. Today it has more British undergraduates than foreign ones and offers a range of subjects, including medicine. But the revolution is unfinished. One anomaly that makes life harder for independent providers is that students can take out government-backed student loans at a favourable rate for only the first 6,000 pounds of their fees. At subsidised top universities, they can borrow the full yearly fee of 9,000 pounds .

译文： 30年前出现的独立的白金汉宫大学（一位非盈利人运行的）带来了许多改变，主要教授商业和经济。今天，该大学的英国本科生要比外国的多，教授很多学科，包括医学。但是革命还未结束。一个反常的规定让独立经营者十分困难，学生可以以优惠利率申请政府资助的学生贷款，只是他们学费的6000英镑。政府资助的顶级大学，每年可以全额借助9000英镑。

The level playing field promised when the coalition came to power in 2010 remains a work in progress. David Willetts, the universities minister, failed in a bid to allow for-profit education firms equal access to state funding. Many senior academics opposed the move, citing “derisory graduation rates, crushing levels of debts and degrees of dubious value” from some for-profit American companies. The issue has been shelved until 2015 at the earliest. When it comes to changing higher education, even small innovations can provoke a noisy backlash.

译文： 承诺的公平竞争自2010年联合政府上台后仍在进程中。教育大臣戴维·维利斯在允许盈利性的教育公司有平等获得政府资助的投标中失败。许多高级学者反对这个行为， 认为这是由一些以营利为主的美国公司带来的“低得可笑的毕业率，高得离谱的债务和一文不值的学位”。最早到2015年这个问题才会搁置。谈到高等教育改革，即使一些很小的创新也会产生争论不休的强烈反对。