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BRITAIN'S private schools are one of its mostsuccessful exports. The children of the well-heeled flock to them, whether from China, Nigeriaor Russia: the number of foreign pupils rose by 1.4% in the last year alone. One headmasterrecently asked a room full of pupils whether they flew business class to Britain. Only a fewhands went up, suggesting they were not quite as cosseted as he had thought. Then a boyexplained: many of the pupils fly first class instead.

英國的私立學校可以說是英國最成功的“出口商品”之一。在這些學校里，無論是來自中國、尼日利亞或是俄羅斯，富有的學生比比皆是：僅去年一年，留學生的數(shù)量就增長了1.4%。最近有一位校長查訪了一間滿寢的宿舍，并詢問他們是否乘坐商務客艙飛到英國。寥寥無幾的人舉起了手，以表明實際上他們并不像他所想的那樣嬌生慣養(yǎng)。隨后一名男孩解釋道：許多學生都沒有乘坐頭等艙。

Yet foreign students, whether educated in British private schools or elsewhere, are decreasinglylikely to go to English universities. According to the Higher Education Funding Council forEngland, 307,200 overseas students began their studies in the country in 2012-13, down from312,000 two years earlier and the first drop in 29 years. Student numbers from the rest of theEU fell—probably a result of the increase in annual tuition fees in England from 6,000 (10,000)a year to 9,000. But arrivals from India and Pakistan declined most sharply.

然而這些留學生，無論是在英國的私立學校還是在別的教育機構接受教育的，進入英國的大學求學的可能性都在不斷減小。根據(jù)英國高等教育撥款局的調查，相較于上一學年的31.2萬人，在2012-13學年選擇在英格蘭大學求學的留學生只有30.72萬人，這是29年來人數(shù)首降。而且歐盟中其他國家的留學生人數(shù)也在下降，極有可能是受到了英國每年的學費從6,000 (10,000)增加到9,000的影響。特別是來自印度和巴基斯坦的人數(shù)在急劇下降。

In contrast to the visa regime for private schools, which is extremely lax (the Home Officecounts private schools as favoured sponsors) student visas have been tightened. Foreignstudents used to be allowed to work for up to two years after graduating. They now have onlyfour months to find a job paying upwards of 20,600 if they want to stay in Britain.

相比于私立學校那相當寬松的簽證制度(因為私立學校是內務部的友好贊助商)，學生簽證就嚴格很多。以往，外國學生被允許在畢業(yè)之后可工作時間長達兩年。而如今，若他們想留在英國，就必須在僅僅四個月的時間內找到一份薪資高于20,600的工作。

This change was intended to deal with sham colleges that were in effect offering two-year workvisas. But it seems to have put off serious students too. Nick Hillman of the Higher EducationPolicy Institute says the government has sent unclear messages about the sort of immigrationit wants to restrict. An emphasis on holding down net immigration deters young Indians andPakistanis in particular. Australia and America, which have more relaxed entry criteria forstudents, are becoming more favoured destinations. Colin Riordan, Cardiff University's vice-chancellor, adds that Britain's student-visa regime has become more onerous and fiddlyoverall.

這樣的改變是為了應對那些所謂提供兩年工作簽的假冒院校。但是這樣的做法似乎也影響到了真正求學的學生。來自高等教育政策研究所的尼克·希爾曼表示，政府的做法向大眾傳遞了一個限制留學移民的模糊信息。英國著重于控制移民的政策對來自印度和巴基斯坦學生的影響最為嚴重。同時，澳大利亞和美國，因其對學生寬松的準入標準而變得倍受青睞。卡蒂夫大學副校長克林·里奧丹補充道，英國的學生簽證制度變得越來越嚴格復雜。

As a result, Britain is losing out to other countries in the contest for talent—an oddity, givenhow often the prime minister bangs on about the “global race”. Its unwelcoming stance willharm its long-term prospects. And the drift of foreign students from leading British privateschools to American colleges may have another, somewhat happier, consequence: Americamight become rather better at cricket.

盡管英國首相多次強調“全球競爭”，可英國卻在人才競爭上輸給了其他國家，多么令人詫異的結果。它不通人情的態(tài)度將會有損它未來的前景。留學生放棄英國私立學校而轉向美國的大學可能帶來另外一個多少讓人欣喜的結果：英國的板球都有可能被美國超越(板球起源于英國)。