私立大学:是贵还是对?

私立学校：是贵还是对？

1. “SOME of my friends think I’m a snob ,” admits Christopher Karp, a 20 year-old aviation -management student. Mr Karp attends the business school at the International University of Applied Sciences (IUBH) in Bad Honnef, a spa town in Germany. Rather than enroll in a free public university like his friends, Mr Karp borrowed money from his parents to study for a degree at IUBH. He has no regrets. Classes are small. Lecturers know the industry he wants to enter; many work for Lufthansa, an airline. He doesn’t even mind the shorter holidays. “We pay a lot of money for our studies and we want to make sure we receive a good education,” he says.

▌ “我的一些朋友认为我挑三拣四，”20岁的航空管理专业学生克里斯托弗·卡普（Christopher Karp）说道，他目前就读于国际应用技术大学（IUBH ）的商学院, 该校位于德国温泉小镇巴特洪内夫。卡普没有像他的朋友一样选择免学费的公立大学，而是从父母那里借钱在IUBH 攻读学位，但是他并不后悔。这里都是小班教学，讲师也了解他想从事的行业；许多人都就职于德国汉莎航空公司。他甚至也不介意假期短。“我们的学费挺高的，所以我们想确保我们能接受优质的教育，”他说道。

2. Globally, one in three higher-education students is in the private sector, according to Daniel Levy, an academic at the State University of New York. In Europe the figure is only one in seven. But the share is set to rise . According to Parthenon-EY , a consultancy, between 2011 and 2013 the number of students enrolled in private higher education grew at a faster rate than those in the public sector. In Turkey the private sector increased by 22% over that period, compared with 14% in the public sector; in Germany by 13% versus 7%; in France by 3% versus 1% and in Spain by 6% compared with no growth in the public sector at all. In Britain, the number of higher-education students attending an “alternative provider” has climbed from 142,000 in 2009 to around 200,000 now.

▌纽约州立大学的教授丹尼尔·利维（Daniel Levy）指出，全球接受高等教育的学生中，有1/3选择了私立院校。而在欧洲仅为1/7，但是这一比例正不断上升。咨询公司帕特侬—安永（Parthenon-EY ）的数据显示，2011年至2013年，私立高等教育学校的学生数量增长率高于公立院校。在这段时间内，土耳其的私立院校学生数量增长率为22%，而公立院校仅为14%；德国则分别为13%和7%，法国是3%和1%，西班牙的前者为6%，公立院校则根本没有任何增长。而在英国，就读于其他非公立高等教育院校的学生人数已从2009年的14.2万人增长至目前的20万人。

3. Disruption is nothing new for European higher education. In the 16th century Martin Luther, a scholastic entrepreneur of sorts, said universities would be “the great gates of hell” if they did not teach scripture . But the appeal of studying in old buildings, combined with free tuition and regulatory barriers to entry, have sheltered the public sector from competition.

▌欧洲高等教育的混乱情况已经不是什么新鲜事了。在16世纪时，马丁·路德算是一位学术企业家，他表示大学如果不教圣经，那么大学就可能会成为“地狱之大门”。但是由

于令人神往的古建筑里学习氛围、再加上免收学费以及各种规定的准入门槛，这些因素使得公立院校免于参与竞争。

4. This is now starting to change. One reason is that private providers, including ones out to make a profit, are increasingly attractive to those who might have once gone straight into a job after school. Many do not take well to straight academic life. Nearly half of French students who pass their baccalaureate exam and enter university do not pass their second year. These sorts of students are starting to “buy differently”, says Matthew Robb of Parthenon-EY . They want courses that offer a clear progression to a career.

▌现在这种情况正在发生变化。原因之一是，对于那些曾经中学毕业就参加工作的人而言，私立大学（盈利性的也包含在内）越来越具有吸引力。很多人并不能很好地适应正统的大学生活。在法国，通过中学毕业会考进入大学的学生中将近有一半未能顺利完成第二年的学业。这些学生开始“寻求不一样的路径”，帕特侬—安永的马修·罗博（Matthew Robb ）说。他们想上那种能提供清晰的职业发展的课程。 5. Companies are also turning to private universities, further boosting their growth. IUBH

offers a “dual studies” hospitality degree, paid for by hotels, whereby students spend alternate weeks on campus and at work. Even its standard degree features a 22-week internship . Other private university groups offer tailored MBAs in sectors such as the wine business, which distinguish them from their more traditional rivals. “We cannot compete with Harvard but we can do better than chambers of commerce ,” says Bertrand Pivin, a partner in Apax, a private-equity fund which owns INSEEC, a French business-school group.

▌各大公司也将目光转向私立大学，这进一步促进了私立大学的发展。IUBH 设立了一个“双重学业”酒店管理学位，由酒店资助，借此学生们可以一周在校上课，一周外出实习。甚至为期22周的实习也成为了一个标准学位的特色。其他私立大学推出了一些涉及某些领域的定制版MBA 课程，如葡萄酒行业，这就使他们从传统的竞争对手中脱颖而出。“我们不跟哈佛大学比，但是我们可以比商会做得更好，”私募股权基金公司安佰深（Apax ）的合伙人Bertrand Pivin 这样说道。该公司还拥有法国的英赛克商学院（INSEEC ）。

6. . International students are also swelling the ranks of private providers. There are 4.5m international higher-education students worldwide, a number that is expected to rise to 7m-8m by 2025. America’s State Department wants to double the number of American students abroad from 300,000 to 600,000 by 2020. European countries are popular destinations, both for students from other parts of the continent, and those from elsewhere.

▌国际学生也正不断壮大私立大学的队伍。现在全球有450万接受高等教育的国际学生，该数字预计将于2025年之前达到700—800万。美国国务院想使美国赴海外留学的学生数在2020年前翻番，达到60万。对于欧洲本土以及世界其他地方的学生来说，欧洲国家都很受欢迎。

7. It’s fashionable abroad 出国正流行

The Istituto Marangoni fashion school in Milan (pictured), which with its modernist furniture is as chic as one of the boutiques near the campus, is

opening outposts in Florence and Shenzhen this year, adding to those in Paris, London and Shanghai. In Milan foreign students account for 70% of those enrolled, with Chinese students the biggest group. Many are well-off : annual fees start at €13,600 ($15,400) for a degree-level qualification, rising to €32,000 for a “fashion elite” course.

▌马兰欧尼时尚设计学院（如图）位于米兰，其现代主义的家居风格使之看起来跟校园附近的精品店一样时髦。该学院已在巴黎、伦敦和上海设立了分校，并将于今年在佛罗伦萨和深圳也开设分支机构。米兰的外国学生占到所有注册学生数的70%，其中中国学生最多。很多人家境都很殷实：学位基础课程每年的收费最低为13600欧元（合15400美元），而“时尚精英”课程的收费则上涨至32000欧元。

8. Some European governments are starting to welcome private colleges. The Italian government should start to accredit degrees from the Istituto Marangoni this year. In Britain, the government will soon say how it intends to ensure that good alternative providers thrive and dodgy ones die. After Germany ended its eight-year experiment with tuition fees at public universities in 2014, the government has become more open to the idea of entrepreneurs stepping in, argues Patrick Geus, who teaches at IUBH.

▌私立院校开始受到欧洲一些政府的欢迎。今年，意大利政府将开始认可马兰欧尼时尚设计学院的学位。英国政府也会尽快表明将如何确保优秀的私立院校能繁荣发展，而野鸡院校则关门大吉。2014年，德国结束了其在公立大学为期8年的收费实验，此后，就职于国际应用技术大学的派特里克·戈伊斯称，德国政府对于企业家参与教育的理念已更加持开放的态度。

9. More countries are likely to follow, as many will have to start spending less on universities. “France is completely broke,” says Mr Pivin of Apax. This will create an incentive to offload more costs on to students, creating opportunities for investors from outside Europe, he thinks. Investors in education are also keen to diversify after scandals in private universities dented the American market, says Andrew Rosen of Kaplan, an education company. Some providers were accused of recruiting students with little regard for their academic ability or financial situation. Classes at a university founded by Donald Trump allegedly focused largely on persuading students to sign up for more expensive courses.

▌越来越多的国家可能会紧随其后，因为许多国家必须开始减少在大学教育方面的支出。“法国完全破产了，”安佰深的Pivin 先生表示。他认为，这会导致更多成本转嫁到学生身上，并为欧洲以外的投资者们创造机会。教育公司卡普兰（Kaplan ）的安德鲁·罗

森（Andrew Rosen ）表示，因为之前私立大学的丑闻损害了美国市场，所以教育投资人也热衷于使其各项投资更加多元化。一些私立大学在招收学生时几乎不考虑学生的学术能力及经济状况，因而遭人诟病。唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump ）创办的大学里开设的课堂据说总是劝说学生选择收费高昂的课程。

10. 10. America offers lessons for Europe. The decline of for-profit higher education is one

reason Barack Obama could oversee a fall in the share of 18- to 24-year-olds attending university, argues Mr Rosen. It need not be like this. Students can benefit from being treated as consumers. But regulation is needed. Providers should be transparent about admissions and employment data. Failing private colleges should be shut down. Across Europe, students are looking beyond traditional options when deciding their future. Governments should be equally open-minded .

▌美国正是欧洲的前车之鉴。罗森称，巴拉克·奥巴马可能会注意到18—24岁中上大学的人数有所下降，原因之一就是盈利性高等教育的衰退。其实也不一定会落入这般境地。就算学生被当作消费者，他们也可以从中获益，但是监管要到位。私立大学要公布其入学率和就业率。表现不佳的私立大学也要被勒令关闭。全欧洲上下，学生在对其未来做出决定时关注的已不仅仅是那些老路子了，政府同样也得更加开放。