汉译英
改变高等教育的全球化
什么是全球化?它又是如何影响高等教育政策和学术机构的?这个问题的答案看似简单,但实际上却极为复杂,超乎想象。对于高等教育而言,全球化意味着决定21世纪现状的社会力量、经济力量和科技力量,其中包括先进的信息技术、为高等教育筹措资金的新思路以及随之而来的对市场力量和商业化的接受、教师和学生史无前例的高流动性及其他发展和变化。特别值得关注的是,高等教育大众化的理念带来了高等教育史无前例的扩张——现今全世界大约有1.34亿学生在接受高等教育,而且在过去的几十年里,很多国家的高等教育都经历了前所未有的持续扩张。这些全球性的趋势多半是不可避免的,各国和教育机构都必须建设性地处理全球化所带来的各种新局势。
大众化
毫无疑问,在过去的半个多世纪,高等教育大众化是全世界最具影响力的事物,其影响力无所不在。美国早在20世纪20年代就首先实行了高等教育普及制度。之后是欧洲,始于20世纪60年代。亚洲部分国家和地区则在十年以后甚至更晚才开始普及高等教育。发展中国家在这方面则是最晚起步的。因此,21世纪高等教育的增长大多集中在发展中国家和中等收入国家。如今,在北美、欧洲和许多环太平洋国家,接受高等教育的适龄人群已达百分之六十以上。高等教育大众化究竟给我们带来了什么呢?
公共利益与个人利益。一方面,由于高等教育大众化所带来的金融压力,另一方面,由于在经济思考,包括新自由主义的进程所带来的广泛变化,高等教育从经济学角度来说正越来越多地被视为应由个人来购买的私人利益,而不是由国家来提供经济支持的公共利益,因为它主要是为个体,而不是为社会带来好处。
多元的资金募集模式。对大多数国家而言,政府历来是高等教育的主要出资人。然而,高等教育的大众化给政府拨款这种方式带来了很大压力,政府认为他们实在无力为大众化的高等教育提供足够的资金。因此,必须找到其他资金来源——包括向学生收取的学费和其他费用(这通常是最大的经费来源),各类政府资助及个人贷款项目,高校创收项目(如产研合作或为企业提供咨询)以及慈善捐助。
教学质量的下降与教学环境的退化。大多数国家的高等教育普遍存在质量下降的情况。在大众化的体系下,并非所有学生都能接受到最高质量的教育。一方面,高质量的教育不是人人都能负担得起的;另一方面,学生和教师的能力水平也必然会变得更为参差不齐。从能力和财力上来说,大学的教与学已不再社会精英们的专利。在多样化的高等教育体系下,尽管它的最高端仍然可以维持很高的教学质量(尽管在一些国家,最高端的大学也有同样的困境),但其总体质量是在下降的。
学术市场的全球化
目前,有200多万名学生出国留学,而且这一数字几年后就将增至800万。男外,还有很多学生被外国大学设在本国的分校或是与外国大学联办的双联课程项目录取。成千上万名访问学者和博士后研究人员也在国外深造。而其中学术人才在全球范围内的流动影响更为深远。便捷的交通、信息技术的发展、英语的广泛使用以及课程的全球化使得学术人才在国际间的流动大大增多。学生和学者流动的方向大多为从南向北——即从发展中国家流向北美和欧洲等发达国家。尽管以往的“人才外流”越来越多地转变为“人才交流”,人才和知识在各国和社会之间游走,然而,传统的学术中心依然以损害周边地区的利益为代价获得了更多的好处。虽然中国,在一定程度上还有印度,拥有规模庞大、日益先进的高等教育体系,在国际学术市场上明显处于弱势。而对于非洲大多数国家来说,传统意义上的人才外流依然是其主要现实。
参考译文
Globalization for Change in Higher Education
What is globalization and how does it affect higher education policy and academic institutions? The answer is deceivingly simple and the implications are surprisingly complex. For higher education, globalization implies the social, economic, and technological forces that shape the realities of the 21st century. These elements include advanced information technology, new ways of thinking about financing higher education and a concomitant acceptance of market forces and commercialization, unprecedented mobility for students and professors, and other developments. Significantly, the idea of mass access to higher education has meant unprecedented expansion of higher education everywhere - there are about 134 million students in postsecondary education worldwide, and many countries have seen unprecedented and sustained expansion in the past several decades. These global trends are for the most part inevitable. Nations, and academic institutions, must constructively cope with the implications.
Massification
massification is without question the most ubiquitous global influence of the past half century or more. The United States had the first mass higher education system, beginning as early as the 1920s. Europe followed in the 1960s, and parts of Asia a decade or so later. The developing countries were the last to expand. Most of the growth of the 21st century is taking place in developing and middle-income countries. North America, Europe, and a number of Pacific Rim nations now enroll 60 percent or more of the relevant age group in higher education. What has massification brought?
Public good vs. private good. Stimulated in part by the financial pressures of massification and also by broader changes in economic thinking, including the neoliberal agenda, higher education is increasingly considered in economic terms a private good - a benefit accruing mainly to individuals who should pay for it rather than a public good that contributes benefits to society and thus should be financially supported by the state.
Varied funding patterns. For most countries, the state has traditionally been the main funder of higher education. Massification has placed great strains on state funding, and in all cases governments no longer believe they can adequately fund mass higher education. Other sources of funding need to be found - including student tuition and fees ( typically the largest source) , a variety of government-sponsored and private loan programs, university income generating programs ( such as industry collaboration or consulting) , and philanthropic support.
Decline in quality vs. conditions of study. On average in most countries, the quality of higher education has declined. In a mass system, top quality cannot be provided to all students. It is not affordable, and the ability levels of both students and professors necessarily become more diverse.
University study and teaching are no longer a preserve for the elite - both in terms of ability and wealth. While the top of a diversified academic system may maintain its quality(although in some countries the top sector has also suffered), the system as a whole declines.
Globalization of the Academic Marketplace
More than 2 million students are studying abroad, and it is estimated that this number will increase to million in a few years. Many others are enrolled in branch campuses and twinning programs. There are many thousands of visiting scholars and postdocs studying internationally. Most significantly, there is a global circulation of academics. Ease of transportation, IT, the use of English, and the globalization of the curriculum have tremendously increased the international circulation of academic talent. Flows of students and scholars move largely from South to North - from the developing countries to North America and Europe. And while the "brain drain" of the past has become more of a "brain exchange", with flows of both people and knowledge back and forth across borders and among societies, the great advantage still accrues to the traditional academic centers at the expense of the peripheries. Even China, and to some extent India, with both large and increasingly sophisticated academic systems, find themselves at a significant disadvantage in the global academic marketplace. For much of Africa, the traditional brain drain remains largely a reality.
汉译英
远程教育
远程教育属正规教育,它打破了传统的课堂教学模式。远程教育与传统教育相比有两大区别,即远程教育具有灵活性和开放性,不受时空和学习进度的限制。教师在一处授课,而学生在另一处学,打破了时空限制。有些学生由于工作、家庭或是地理条件的限制等原因无法接受传统教育,而远程教育可以为他们提供受教育的机会。学生学习的地点可以是配有通信设备的校园、工作单位或者自己家里。授课可以实时或非实对进行。师生交互以及学生交互可以融入到教学过程中去。远程教育可以是学历教育,学生可获得学士学位或硕士学位;远程教育也可以是非学历教育,学生可取得职业资格证书、获得在职培训乃至终身学习的机会。远程教学可采取多种技术,而究竟采用哪些技术可根据所授科目以及学生的特点来定。
除此之外,学生通常可以自主决定学习进度。
正如五花八门的课程设置一样,远程教育的模式也是多种多样的。最有效的远程教育课程充分利用传播媒介,并把它和所授科目的特点结合起来。
一般而言,远程教育有三种基本的传输模式:电视现场直播,完整的或经过压缩的信息传输以及基于计算机的教学。当然,也可以综合应用这些模式。例如,以播放录像带为主的课程可以经由卫星或万维网直播。另外,师生间的互动以及学生之间的互动也是学习过程的重要组成部分。有许多支持性技术可用于促进远程学习环境下的互动。这些技术包括电子公告板、互联网、电子邮件、传真、互联网接力聊天、电话以及普通邮件。
参考译文
Distance Learning
Distance learning is a formal educational process that breaks the traditional mode of classroom teaching. There are two key differences between traditional education and distance learning.
Distance learning adds flexibility and availability, regardless of time, place, or pace of learning.
Here an instructor teaches, and somewhere else a student learns, regardless of barriers of time or place. Distance learning reaches out to non-traditional students who must fit their studies around workplace, family responsibilities, and geographical barriers, etc. Students can be at satellite campuses, at the workplace, or at home. Instruction may take place in real time or on a time- delayed basis. Interactivity between student and instructor, as well as among students themselves can be built into the program. The outcome can be a bachelor's degree or a master's degree, professional certification, on-the-job training, or life-long learning.
A number of technologies can be employed in distance instruction, depending on what is most appropriate for the subject and the targeted group of students. In addition, students usually progress through the course at their own speed.
Distance learning modes are as varied and numerous as the courses themselves. The most effective course in distance learning always knows how to combine the use of media with the nature of the subject being taught.
Generally speaking, there are three basic transmission modes in distance learning: live TV broadcast, transmission of complete or compressed information as well as computer-based instruction. Of course, all these modes can also be used in combination. For instance, live broadcast via satellite or the World Wide Web can be added in courses conducted primarily with videotapes.
In addition, instructor-student interactivity as well as student-student interactivity is also an important part of the learning process. There are a number of supportive technologies that can help promote interactivity in the distance learning environment, including electronic bulletin boards, internet, email, fax, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), telephone and snail mail.
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