赴英读研中国学生仍将继续增加

THE HAGUE — Amid fears that bureaucracy and high costs could diminish Britain’s stature as a leading destination for internationAl students, a new study foresees long-term, steady growth in the ability of British universities to attract foreign graduate students, especially from China.

海牙——尽管有人担心官僚作风和高昂费用可能会削弱英国作为国际学生首选留学国的地位，但一项新的研究预计，英国大学对外国研究生，尤其是中国研究生的吸引力，将会有长期稳定的提升。

The study, released by the British Council this month, predicts that by 2024 Britain will add 83,000 international graduate students to the 223,745 it hosted in 2013.

2013年，共有22.38万名国际研究生在英国求学。英国文化教育协会(British Council)本月发布的研究报告预计，到2024年，人数还将在此基础上增加8.3万人。

Of those, 44 percent will come from China, which currently accounts for about 22 percent of international graduate students in Britain.

中国将贡献这一增量的44%。目前，英国的国际研究生有22%来自中国。

But the report, “Postgraduate Student Mobility Trends to 2024,” also raised some concerns. At an estimated yearly growth of 3.5 percent from 2013 to 2024, Britain’s power to attract foreign graduate students will have weakened compared to the five years leading up to 2012, when British universities registered 4.1 percent growth in that sector.

但这份题为《展望2024：研究生流动趋势》(Postgraduate Student Mobility Trends to 2024)的报告也提出了一些问题。根据预期，从2013年到2024年，在英国各大学注册的国际研究生人数将以每年3.5%的速度递增，但在2012年之前的5年时间里，年增长率为4.1%——相较而言，英国对外国研究生的吸引力将有所下降。

The figures also suggest a growing reliance on China, which, though currently the biggest provider of international postgraduate students, is expected to send fewer students as its population ages.

这些数字还表明，留学市场对中国生源的依赖程度不断提高。中国目前是国际留学生的最大来源国，但随着人口的逐步老龄化，中国输出的国际留学生的人数将逐渐减少。

“The U.K. can’t just sit up and look at its historical position in this market,” said Jo Attwooll, the senior policy manger at Universities UK, an association that represents the country’s universities. “There is a growing amount of competition from other countries.”

“英国不能只是坐守其成，洋洋自得于它在这个市场上的历史地位，”英国大学组织(Universities UK)高级政策经理乔·阿托沃尔(Jo Attwooll)说，“来自其他国家的竞争正在不断不断加剧。”这个组织代表英国各大学。

The day the study was released, a recruitment film was being shot on the campus of University of Derby, a middle-sized university in central England. The university boasts small class sizes and good connections with several global companies, like Rolls-Royce, Bombardier and Toyota, which have offices in and around the town of Derby. It has an excellent employability rate for graduates.

研究报告发布的那天，德比大学(University of Derby)的校园里正在拍摄招生影片。这所规模中等的大学位于英格兰中部，可以进行小班教学，并且和罗尔斯·罗伊斯(Rolls-Royce)、庞巴迪(Bombardier)、丰田(Toyota)等跨国公司有着良好的关系。这些企业都在德比设有办事处，毕业生的就业率非常高。

“You can’t expect people in China to know about Derby,” said Nick Slade, the university’s director of international development.

“你不能指望远在中国的人们了解德比，”该校国际发展部主管尼克·斯莱德(Nick Slade)说。

Which is one of the reasons why the recruitment video features, among other international students, a Chinese student who describes her experience at Derby in Mandarin. Like other promotional material, the video will be posted on the university’s Chinese website.

这也是出镜拍摄招生视频的国际学生中，有一位中国学生的一个原因。她用普通话讲述了自己在德比大学的求学经历。和其他宣传资料一样，这个视频也会放在该校的中文网站上。

“The actual students speak English well enough to read the English site, but it may be that their parents want to read the Chinese,” Mr. Slade said.

“实际上学生的英语都足够好，完全可以浏览英文网站，但或许他们的父母想要浏览中文网站，”斯莱德说。

Mr. Slade said competition for international students has become so strong among smaller, midlevel universities in Britain that Derby, which has about 1,000 international students, has pulled out all the stops, including offering pickup service from the airport and a buddy system to ease transition and getting the local police constable to set up a registration desk at the school so that foreign students no longer have to make the trek to the police station to register.

斯莱德称，英国中小规模的大学对国际学生的争夺趋于白热化，拥有约1000名国际学生的德比大学使出了浑身解数，包括提供机场接机服务，推出学伴制度，从而帮助国际学生顺利度过过渡期，还让当地警方在校园里设立了登记处——这样一来，外国学生就不必跑很远的路，去警察局登记了。

“Everybody is offering more,” he said.

“所有人都争相提供更多便利，”他说。

Although the student mobility report does not include ancillary information such as visa requirements and tuition fees, it is an important tool in a country where foreigners make up almost a third of all graduate students.

尽管研究生流动趋势报告并不包含签证要求、学费等辅助信息，但在一个国际学生几乎占研究生总数三分一的国家，它仍然有重要的参考意义。

Besides graduate students from China, Britain will continue to attract students from India; Britain is the second most popular destination for Indian students (many more Indian students go to the United States). By 2024, the study predicts, more graduate students will come to Britain from Nigeria than from India.

除了来自中国的研究生，英国也会继续保持对印度学生的吸引力。在最受印度学生欢迎的留学目的地中，英国排名第二，选择去美国求学的印度学生要多很多。研究报告预测，到2024年，来自尼日利亚的研究生将超过印度。

Attracting overseas graduate students, in particular, is important to universities. Not only do they bring their talents and skills to research and teaching, but foreign postgraduate students also tend to pay more in tuition than their undergraduate counterparts.

吸引海外研究生对大学来说格外重要。这些外国研究生不仅会把他们的才干和技能应用到研究和教学工作中去，往往还会缴纳高于本科留学生的学费。

Zainab Malik, the research director at the British Council, author of the study, said she was impressed by how British institutions would rely on just a few countries to fill their ranks of international graduate students. Like other experts, she encouraged British universities to diversify.

这项研究报告的执笔者、英国文化教育协会研究主管扎伊纳布·马利克(Zainab Malik)说，让她印象深刻的是，英国教育机构的国际研究生来源主要是少数几个国家。和其他业内人士一样，她鼓励英国大学加大生源的多样性。

“China is nothing to scoff at,” she said, referring to the country’s vast output of international graduate students. “But if half of your growth comes from China, that is perfectly good and perfectly respectable — but it is risky.”

“不能小看中国，”她在谈到中国输出的大量国际研究生时说，“但如果增长的招生人数有一半是由中国贡献的，虽然很好、很可观，但却潜藏着风险。”

Dr. Shaun Curtis, director of the international development and recruitment office at the University of Exeter, agreed.

埃克塞特大学(University of Exeter)国际发展与招生办公室主任肖恩·柯蒂斯博士(Shaun Curtis)对此表示赞同。

“You want an international population, and that means recruiting the best and brightest from all around the world,” he said, explaining that Exeter was actively searching for smaller, growing markets like India or countries in sub-Saharan Africa to reduce the heavy reliance on Chinese students.

柯蒂斯表示，“需要拥有国际化的生源，这就意味要从世界各地招收最优秀、最聪明的学生。”他解释说，为了降低对中国生源的依赖，埃克塞特大学正在印度或撒哈拉以南非洲国家等规模较小但日渐增长的市场积极招生。

The shift toward a diverse international field is quite expensive, said Dr. Curtis, whose department, International Exeter, employs 31 people, with two other full-time employees assisting with recruitment in Bangalore, India.

柯蒂斯称，国际生源多元化的战略转向成本相当高昂。他所在的部门——埃克塞特大学国际部(International Exeter)——拥有31名员工，另外还有两名全职员工在印度班加罗尔协助招生。

Exeter’s attempts to diversify its international student population and reduce its reliance on China appear to be working. While 38 percent of the roughly 4,000 international students came from China in 2012, this year only 32 percent are Chinese.

埃克塞特大学推动国际生源多样化、降低对中国生源依赖度的努力似乎正在起作用。2012年，在该校约4000名国际学生中，有38%来自中国；今年的比例则只有32%。

Dr. Curtis said that these changes in Exeter’s recruitment of international students have nothing to do with an anti-Chinese bias. Rather, the university is focused on bringing a diverse group of international students to a wide range of courses, subjects and academic levels.

柯蒂斯说，埃克塞特大学在招收国际学生方面的变化与针对中国的偏见无关。确切地说，该校正致力于让多元化的国际学生群体，涉猎多种多样、程度各异的课程和科目。