注意！英国大学将全面审查海外留学生招收流程
原文链接：
https://amp.theguardian.com/education/2024/feb/02/uk-universities-to-review-international-student-admissions-after-recruitment-controversy
英国大学在招生争议后将重新审查国际学生招生
此举是在有人指责英国大学对支付高得多学费的外国申请者降低入学标准之后采取的
英国大学的校长们将对英国大学的国际学生招生进行审查，包括如何识别那些为吸引海外学生而雇佣的中介机构的“不良做法”。此前，英国大学的过度招生引发了争议。
代表大学领导的英国大学组织(Universities UK)宣布，将对招生代理机构的使用、国际预科课程以及管理招生的行为准则进行一系列审查。
“最近几周，与国际学生有关的招生工作受到了极大关注。虽然报道的许多方面都歪曲了招生过程和标准，但至关重要的是，学生、他们的家人和政府要对这个系统有信心，相信它是公平、透明和健全的。”
大学最近被指责降低了国际学生的入学标准，这些学生支付的学费远远高于英国学生，实际上是在补贴他们的教育和研究活动。
约克大学要求工作人员在录取成绩低于预期的国际学生时“更加灵活”，而《星期日泰晤士报》的一项调查显示，杜伦大学和埃克塞特等大学的代理机构声称，成绩不佳的国际学生可以通过国际预科课程轻松入学。
杜伦大学称这种说法是“完全错误的”。一位发言人说:“完成国际预科课程的国际学生的入学要求是有基准的，以确保他们与英国学生的A-level入学要求相当。”
英国大学表示，将对国际预科课程进行快速审查，并将入学要求与英国学生的入学要求进行比较。大学校长们表示，他们将与政府合作，审查代理机构的使用，并做出改变，以“提高应变能力，识别不良做法”。
大学还将更新其招生行为准则，“明确说明其对国际学生的适用性”。该准则目前承诺“公平和透明”，并指出大学将“利用他们现有的证据，对申请人在某门课程上取得成功的潜力做出明智的决定”。
曾在英国试行学费贷款的前大学部长David Willetts指责政府自2016年以来冻结学费的做法，导致英国越来越依赖海外学生的收入。
Willetts说:“大学需要海外学生来交叉补贴国内学生。解决这一问题的最好办法是适当地为国内高等教育提供资金，这意味着将学费与通货膨胀或其他类似的公式挂钩。”
由顶尖研究型大学组成的罗素大学集团的一名发言人表示，国际学生并没有以牺牲英国学生的利益为代价占据一席之地。他们表示:“最新的Ucas数据显示，罗素集团大学的国内学生人数增长速度快于国际学生人数。”
原文：
UK universities to review international student admissions after recruitment controversy
Move comes after accusations of lowering entry standards to foreign applicants who pay far higher tuition fees
Vice-chancellors are to review international student admissions by British universities, including how to identify “bad practice” among agents employed to attract people from overseas, after controversy over recruitment.
Universities UK, which represents university leaders, announced a series of reviews into the use of recruitment agents and international foundation programmes, as well as the code of practice governing admissions.
“There has been a significant focus on recruitment practices relating to international students in recent weeks. While many aspects of the reporting misrepresented the admissions process and criteria, it is vital that students, their families, and government have confidence that the system is fair, transparent, and robust,” Universities UK said.
Universities have recently been accused of lowering entry standards for international students, who pay far higher tuition fees than UK students and effectively subsidise their education as well as research activities.
The University of York has told staff to be “more flexible” in admitting international students with lower than expected grades, while an investigation by the Sunday Times recorded agents acting for universities such as Durham and Exeter claiming that international students with poor grades could easily gain entry via international foundation courses.
Durham University described the claims as “plain wrong”. A spokesperson said: “Entry requirements for international students who have completed international foundation years are benchmarked to ensure they are equivalent to those for home students entering with A-levels.”
Universities UK said it would undertake a rapid review of international foundation courses, and compare entry requirements with those for UK students. Vice-chancellors said they would work with the government to review the use of agents, and make changes to “improve resilience and identify bad practice”.
Universities will also update their admissions code of practice “to clearly state its applicability to international students”. The code currently promises “fairness and transparency” and states that universities will “use the evidence they have available to make informed decisions on applicants’ potential to succeed on a course”.
David Willetts, the former universities minister who piloted the introduction of tuition fee loans in England, has blamed the government’s freezing of fees since 2016 for increasing the reliance on overseas student income.
Willets said: “Universities need overseas students to cross-subsidise the domestic ones. The best way to solve this problem would be properly to fund domestic higher education funding, which would mean linking fees to inflation or some other such formula.”
A spokesperson for the Russell Group of leading research universities said international students were not taking up places at the expense of UK students. “The latest Ucas data shows domestic student numbers at Russell Group universities are rising faster than international student numbers,” they said.
