单项选择题
Higher education and our university system seem to be in the news constantly. John O’Leary, editor of the Good University Guide, thinks that universities may secretly be pleased by falling numbers.
Universities all over the country are preparing themselves for the possibility of empty places when fees are ￡9,000 a year. At the same time, some of the UK’s best-known academics are staking their reputations--and some of their own money--on students paying ￡18,000 a year.
Why it should cost ￡18,000 a year to provide the cheapest subjects in higher education with visiting lecturers and few of the facilities offered by other universities is a mystery. But the big names and exclusivity might attract enough rich overseas students to see it through what will surely be a difficult opening period.
There will not be enough of either to comfort all the existing universities. Those at the top can afford a 10 per cent drop in applications and still have plenty of bright candidates to choose from. But some of the more vulnerable universities will have little to tide them over if they cannot attract enough students. Government teaching grants are shrinking to practically nothing in arts-oriented universities and there is little in the way of research income to divert. The Higher Education Funding Council for England, which has always come to the rescue in hard times, will have less money at its disposal and may be discouraged from bailing out failing institutions.
Yet some vice-chancellors see a silver lining. They believe that they will lose their weakest applicants,who cost most to teach and who may no longer attract such generous state support. In the process,they will close courses that struggle to recruit students and hope to emerge with a smaller but more sustainable university.
For some, including the Treasury, this would not be unwelcome. Universities would restore the level of selectivity that operated before the advent of mass higher education. However, it is hardly the outcome promised by the Coalition Government, which was talking of expanding higher education for the good of society and the economy when the new fees were first proposed.
A. They may discourage the state from helping them due to their poor management.
B. They have to rely on tuition fees tosurvive as there are few other resources.
C. They are too small to survive the harsh competition among universities.
D. They may spoil their reputation if they fail in recruiting enough students.