靳东颁奖晚会视频:美国大学如何更好地向中国留学申请人提供服务

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17:36:59译言 - 编辑荐读美国大学如何更好地向中国留学申请人提供服务
译者 ringohanSeptember 4, 20112011年9月4日How Am...
美国大学如何更好地向中国留学申请人提供服务
作者:ringohan发表时间:17:36:59
译者 ringohan
September 4, 20112011年9月4日
How American Colleges Can Better Serve Chinese Applicants美国大学如何更好地向中国留学申请者服务?
By Tim Hathaway蒂姆 · 哈撒韦
The ethical debate over whether to use paid agents to recruit students abroad has polarized college admissions officials in the United States. No one disputes that the best interest of students must be protected, but their voices are conspicuously absent from the discussion.  有关是否应该通过经营性代理机构从事海外招生的道德辩论,美国的大学招生官员当中已经出现两极分化。没有人对学生的权益必须得到最好的保护提出异议,但是在这场辩论中却显然听不到学生的声音。
For a Chinese-language newspaper, I recently did a report on the use of such agents in China. A study done at Iowa State University and published in the Journal of College Admission suggests that most Chinese undergraduates enrolled at American colleges had relied on intermediaries to help them navigate the admissions process. Through dozens of interviews with agents, students, and experts, it became clear to me why that is. A tremendous disconnect exists between Chinese students and American universities.  有关在中国利用这类代理机构的问题,本热最近为一家中文报纸做了一份报告。由艾奥瓦州立大学从事并在《大学入学通信》上发布的一项研究认为,在美国上大学的大多数学生是靠中介机构帮助完成入学程序的。通过与留学机构、学生以及专家几十次访谈,我清楚了其中的缘故:中国学生与美国大学之间存在巨大的沟通不畅问题。
While many industry norms are questionable at best, agents provide necessary and important services. Unlike their American counterparts, the vast majority of Chinese high schools do not have guidance counselors, and many parents lack the English skills to help their children differentiate between an accredited college and a diploma mill. It is quite natural to seek professional help for what may well be the largest investment of their lives.  尽管行业的许多规范往最好说,也值得疑问,但代理机构的确提供了必要而重要的服务。与美国同行不同,中国绝大多数高中学校没有辅导咨询师,许多家长缺乏必要的英语能力帮助子女了解名牌大学与文凭工厂之间的区别。因此,对许多人来说,寻求专家咨询一生中最大的投资是自然不过的事情。
Agents also provide valuable information about the differences among universities and about campus culture, application requirements, and other information considered common knowledge in American society. Students have typically never received adequate training in academic or expository writing in their native languages, never mind English. Although many choose to write personal statements and graduate-level sample essays on their own, agents' editing assistance is highly valued.  代理机构还提供了有关大学之间的区别、校园文化、申请要求以及其它方面有价值的信息,尽管这些东西在美国社会被认作常识。 学生们一般从来没有接受过用本国的语言写作学术或介绍型文章的训练,更不用说用英语了。尽管许多人自己写个人简介与研究生程度的样板文章,但是代理机构提供的编辑协助是很有价值的。
Despite the positive effects, employing an intermediary often results in an unbalanced triangular relationship among the agent, applicant, and university, which can lead to manipulation of application material. Students don't know what they need to produce a successful application, while agents, afraid of losing business if their clients don't succeed, are all too willing to embellish information on personal statements, fabricate recommendation letters, assist in transcript alteration, and ghostwrite essays.  尽管存在积极的效果,但是雇佣中介往往造成代理机构、申请人和大学三者的关系失衡,可能造成对申请材料的操纵。学生们不知道要申请成功需要什么东西,而代理机构由于害怕其客户申请失败时生意丢失,都愿意美化个人简历,捏造推荐函,协助修改影印文件,还有找别人替代写作。
Ultimately, though, I believe American colleges are in large part to blame for this problem, because they have failed to effectively communicate with foreign applicants. Here are some measures colleges can take to make the application process clearer and thus mitigate both the need for agents and the incentive to falsify documents. 不过说到底,我认为美国大学在这个问题上有很大责任,因为他们没有与外国学生进行有效的沟通。为了使申请程序更加透明,减少对代理机构的依赖,降低文件造价的动力,美国大学可以采取以下措施:
Consider the parents. Construct Web pages in the applicant's mother tongue that explain entrance requirements; your policies on application fraud and the use of agents; and enrollment costs beyond tuition, room, and board; many families grossly underestimate additional costs. Have current foreign students contribute information they wish they had known before arriving. Provide a link to and explanation of Education­USA, the main venue through which the United States promotes its higher education system abroad.  1.为学生家长着想。用申请者的母语建立网页,解释入学要求;介绍在申请文件造假和采用代理机构问题上采取的政策;说明除学费和食宿费用以外的入学费用;许多家庭只是粗略估计额外的费用。让在校外国学生提供他们在到校之前希望知道的信息。提供到“Education­USA(美国教育)”的连接和说明。Education­USA(美国教育)是美国向国外推介其高等教育的主要场所 。Create an online application form tailored to the country of origin. Questions need to be pertinent to students' educational background; otherwise the university creates an incentive for false or exaggerated information. For example, I found that transcript alteration is one of the most common forms of fraud among undergraduate applicants because students and agents believe that grades are a prime determinant of admission. Yet many bright Chinese students may have mediocre GPA's because their teachers give them extremely rigorous tests.
2.创建适合于来源国的在线申请表格。问题必须与学生的教育背景相关;不然,大学就建立了一种鼓励作假或夸大信息的机制。例如,我发现修改影印文件是大学入学申请人当中最常见的一种作假形式之一,因为学生们及代理机构认为,分数是决定是否可以被录取的一个关键决定因素。然而,聪明的中国学生可能 GPA 成绩平平,原因是他们的老师对他们的考试极为严格。
Even though agents, to avoid liability, generally do not recommend transcript alteration, once a client obtains permission from the high-school academic-affairs office the agent will often alter or delete grades to ensure that the client meets the minimum standards of a selected university. Schools are usually very willing to notarize these documents for the honor of having a graduate study abroad.  尽管为了避免责任,代理机构一般也不建议修改影印文件,但是一旦客户获得高中学习成绩办公室的同意,代理机构经常修改或删除考试成绩,以确保客户满足所选学校的最低标准。为了取得学生留学的声誉,学校通常非常乐意对这些文件进行公证。
Be respectful of Chinese teachers. Most do not have the time or English skills to navigate online recommendation forms. Allow them to handwrite recommendations in their native language. Require the applicant to have the letters professionally translated and submit both copies with contact information. Often teachers will not agree to recommend a student unless the letter is written by someone else, simply because the process is too much of a headache for them.  3.尊重中国老师。绝大多数老师没有时间或英语水平来浏览网上的推荐表。应该允许他们用自己的语言手写推荐信。要求申请人通过专业翻译将这些信件翻译出来,提交原件和复印件并附上联系方式。经常的情况是,除非推荐函是别人写好的,否则老师不愿推荐,因为对他们来说,程序是件很头疼的事情。Make use of the China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center, which offers credential verification. This office is run under the auspices of the Chinese Ministry of Education and State Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council. China is one of the few countries that offers credential-verification services to foreign institutions.
4.利用中国学位及研究生教育中心,该机构提供资信材料认证。这家机构在中国国家教育部和国务院的国家学位委员会下属机构。中国是世界上对外国机构提供资信材料认证的少数国家之一。
Provide better training and resources to admissions staff. Application falsification seems to be an overwhelming problem for many admissions offices in the United States, in part because they are unable to provide a professional assessment of foreign applications.
5.向主管招生的人员提供更好的培训与更好的资源。入学申请作假似乎是美国许多大学招生办公室面临的首要问题,部分原因是这些招生人员对外国申请人无法提供专业的评估。
I contacted about 30 American institutions to ask them about problems they might be having with Chinese students' applications. To my surprise, only one person agreed to an interview. She said her office was updating its policy on fraud specifically because of problems with Chinese students: Professors had complained about their ability to participate in class. She said admissions officers take pains to check English ability through e-mail exchanges. When I asked if she could confirm the identity of the sender, she abruptly discontinued our correspondence. It is common knowledge in China that agents register e-mail accounts on clients' behalf and control all communications.  我联系了美国大约 30 家美国大学,询问他们有关中国学生入学申请可能存在的问题。令人感到意外的是,只有一个人同意采访。她说,她的招生办公室因为中国学生的问题,正在更新专门针对作假的应对措施。教授们抱怨这些中国学生参与课堂学习的能力很差。她说,招生官员花费了大量的经历通过电子邮件检查英语能力。当我问能否确认发电子邮件人的身份时,她突然中断了我们之间的联系。众所周知,中国代理机构以申请人的身份建立电子邮件,控制着所有的往来通信。
Agents have earned a bad reputation among some people in American higher education—but what of the reputation of American admissions officials in the eyes of Chinese agents? I once attended a lecture in which an agent mocked the recruiting methods of some universities in the Chinese market. Those Americans are seen as culturally inept and unwilling to provide substantive oversight, even though they tout the integrity of their systems.  在美国高等教育机构的一些人中,代理机构的名声很坏——但是在中国代理机构的眼里美国招生机构的名声如何?我曾经参加一次讲座。其间一家代理机构讽刺一些美国大学在中国市场上的招生方法。尽管那些美国人兜售自己体制的公正与清白,他们看上去好像在文化上无能和不愿提供实质上的监管。
"You've got [American] schools admitting people quite literally to graduate schools who only have a high-school diploma, because they misunderstood what the credential represented. And you have people with degrees who are being rejected because they don't understand that their degree is in fact comparable to a U.S. bachelor's degree," said Dale Gough, director of International Education Services at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.  “由于误解资信材料所代表的内容,毫不夸张地讲,美国学校把只有高中文凭的人自然而然地录成研究生。有些人遭到拒绝,因为没有人知道他们的学位实际上相当于美国的学士学位。”美国学院注册及录取官员协会国际教育服务处得戴尔 · 高夫说。
Gough said that the majority of U.S. institutions do not have the training or resources to evaluate foreign credentials, and that standards vary greatly among independent providers. The best option perhaps is the China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center, which recently signed cooperative agreements with both the registrars' association and EducationUSA.  高夫说,大多数美国大学没有外国资信材料鉴定方面的培训或资源,而且独立鉴定服务机构标准彼此差别很大。也许,最好选择中国学位与研究生教育发展中心,该中心最近与注册人协会和美国教育( EducationUSA )签订了协议。
I do not believe the use of agents, or the amount of fraud, will decrease until colleges are prepared to do their due diligence. Moreover, foreign students deserve the dignity of a professional assessment of their credentials, especially when colleges accept application fees.  我认为,除非大学打算自个勤勉工作,代理机构服务或作假的数量据不会减少。此外,外国学生应该得到对其学习成绩证明进行专业评估的尊严,尤其在大学收取申请费的情况下。
If colleges truly care about their international students, they should ask them what aspects of the application process seemed unreasonable or so daunting that they felt obliged to turn to a third party. Then enlist them in the fight against fraud and wasteful spending on agents by giving advice to prospective students. Colleges could even employ them to vet applicants over the phone in their native language, as the University of Virginia does.  如果大学真的在乎国际学生,就应该问问自己的申请程序中哪方面似乎不合理,或者困难太大需要求助于第三方。然后,招募第三方人员,通过对潜在的学生提供咨询意见的方式,打击作假,避免毫无必要在代理机构浪费金钱。大学甚至可以雇佣第三方人员,用申请人的母语对申请人进行电话鉴定,弗吉尼亚大学就是这样做的。
After all, students, too, have a stake in the reputations of their universities, as well as of their own countries. And their parents would rather not have to pay those exorbitant fees.  毕竟,学生对自己大学及国家的声誉也承担一份责任。他们的父母就不要支付那些高昂的费用了。
Tim Hathaway is curriculum coordinator for advanced communicative skills at the School of Foreign Languages at Renmin University of China.