When next year’s crop of high-school graduates arrive at Oxford University in the fall, they will be joined by a new face: Andrew Hamilton, the 55-year-old provost (教务长) of Yale, who will become Oxford’s vice-chancellor –– a position equal to university president in America.
Hamilton isn’t the only educator crossing the Atlantic. Schools in France, Egypt, Singapore, etc. have also recently made top-level hires from abroad. Yet the talent flow isn’t universal. High-level personnel (人员) tend to head in only one direction: Outward from America.
The chief reason is that American schools don’t tend to seriously consider looking abroad. For example, when the board of the University of Colorado searched for a new president, it wanted a leader familiar with the state government, a major source of the university’s budget. “We didn’t do any global consideration,” says Patricia Hayes, the board’s chair. The board finally picked Bruce Benson, a 69-year-old Colorado businessman and political activist who is likely to do well in the main task of modern university presidents: fund-raising. Fund-raising is a particularly American thing, since U.S. schools rely heavily on donations. The fund-raising ability is largely a product of experience and necessity.
Many European universities, meanwhile, are still mostly dependent on government funding. But government support has failed to keep pace with rising student numbers. The decline in government support has made fund-raising an increasingly necessary ability among administrators (管理人员), and has made hiring committees hungry for Americans.
In the past few years, well-known schools around the world have joined the trend. In 2011, when Cambridge University appointed Alison Richard, another former Yale provost, as its vice-chancellor, the university publicly stressed that in her previous job she had overseen (监督) “ a major strengthening of Yale’s financial position”.
Of course, fund-raising isn’t the only skill outsiders offer. The globalization of education means more universities will be seeking heads with international experience of some kind to promote international programs and attract a global student body. Foreigners can offer a fresh perspective (视角) on established practices.
小题1: What is the current trend in higher education discussed in the text?
A．Institutions worldwide are hiring administrators from the U.S.
B．More international students are being admitted to American universities.
C．University presidents are paying more attention to fund-raising.
D．A lot of activists are being hired as administrators.
小题2: What do we learn about European universities from the text?
A．The tuition they charge has been rising considerably.
B．They are strengthening their position by globalization.
C．Their operation is under strict government control.
D．Most of their money comes from the government.
小题3: In what way do top-level administrators from abroad contribute to university development?
A．They can improve the university’s image.
B．They will bring with them more international personnel.
C．They will view a lot of things from a new angle.
D．They can set up new academic subjects.
小题4: Which of the following would make the best title of the text?
A．High Education Globalization
B．Global Headhunting in Higher Education
C．Global Higher Education Cooperation
D．Universal Higher Education Development
答案
小题1:A
小题2:D
小题3:C
小题4:B
解析
试题分析:本文是一篇说明文，说明了汉密尔顿并不是唯一的是个大教育家飞越大西洋，在法国、埃及、新加坡等国家，还在外国聘请高级人员，造成人才流动的情况，高层次人员只朝一个方向：离开美国
小题1:细节题，由倒数第三段最后一句The decline in government support has made fund-raising an increasingly necessary ability among administrators (管理人员), and has made hiring committees hungry for Americans可以知道答案，故选A。
小题2:细节题。由第三段第三行it wanted a leader familiar with the state government, a major source of the university’s budget可以知道答案，所以选D。
小题3:推理题，由第二段最后一句High-level personnel (人员) tend to head in only one direction: Outward from America.可以推出答案，所以选C
小题4:推理题，由本文的主要意思“在全世界寻找那些高水平的人”， 可以推出答案，所以选B
点评：做细节题的关键是找出原文的根据，认真核查题支和原文的异同，常犯错误有：绝对化语言，范围扩大或缩小，以偏概全，张冠李戴等。推断题测试考生在阅读基础上的逻辑推理能力，要求考生根据文章所述事件的逻辑关系，对未说明的趋势或结局作出合理的推断；或根据作者所阐述的观点理论，对文章未涉及的现象、事例给以解释。考生首先要仔细阅读短文，完整了解信息，准确把握作者观点。
考点名称：日常生活类阅读
日常生活类阅读的概念：
日常生活这一话题主要涉及人们衣食住行等方面的活动。这一话题的选材主要针对人们日常的工作，生活以及学习情况。做这一类题时，最主要的是要把握好人物的活动内容，时间和地点。