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  3. Asking students to pay more for their education was supposed to encourage competition among universities, not just lighten the l

Asking students to pay more for their education was supposed to encourage competition among universities, not just lighten the l

admin2012-05-04  59
问题     Asking students to pay more for their education was supposed to encourage competition among universities, not just lighten the load on taxpayers. That was the idea in December 2010, when Parliament voted to let English universities charge tuition fees of up to ￡ 9 ,000 from September 2011 , almost treble the existing limit. But demand for higher education is so great, and the fee increase so ringed with restrictions, that universities are not competing for students and responding to market demand. Instead, students are competing for places.
    At first glance, statistics seem to tell a different story. The number of British people who applied for a full-time university course fell by 8. 7% 2011. But the decrease was mainly among older folk, who may have been unwilling to quit hard-won jobs. And fewer people are leaving school in 2012. Adjusting for that decline, applications by school leavers were only 1% lower than 2010, when a bumper crop dashed off to university to avoid the fee increase. High youth unemployment has encouraged many to seek shelter in higher education, taking applications to their third-highest level ever.
    There are a few signs that higher fees have encouraged marginal decision-making, even if they haven’t stopped young people applying altogether. Arts and social-science subjects have attracted fewer applicants than last year. The lack of jobs has concentrated students’ minds on employment prospects. But they seem unfazed by the expense itself.
    In the past students have also proven surprisingly calm about rising prices. Just before tuition fees of ￡ 1,000 were introduced in 1998, many people cancelled gap years to avoid paying. The number of applicants fell slightly when the fees kicked in, but then recovered strongly. The enduring popularity of higher education is such that demand now significantly outstrips supply, and the chances of applicants gaining a university place has been falling for years.
    Alas for ambitious school leavers, universities cannot expand to accommodate them. Because the Treasury must lend students the funds to pay their fees and because not all graduates clear their debts, the state limits not only how much universities charge but also how many students they can admit. During the boom years, adding places was affordable. Now it is not. A temporary expansion of places in England announced in 2010 is about to end.
    Moreover, reforms intended to make universities more responsive to student demand look increasingly bizarre. English institutions recruiting students who gain good grades at A-level will be allowed to take as many as they wish. But historically most high-fliers go to Oxford, Cambridge and a handful of other elite universities which prefer to retain their exclusivity and their present size. So David Willetts, the universities minister, will also let some institutions that charge ￡ 7,500 or less expand at the expense of others. The outcome will be determined not by student demand but by a committee comprised of administrators.
It can be inferred from the passage that
选项 A、students were not concerned about rising tuition fees at all.
B、social-science subjects used to be popular among school leavers.
C、tuition fees have been increased several times since 1998.
D、students tend to apply for subjects with better employment prospects.
答案D
解析 推断题。根据选项中的social-science subjects定位至第三段第二句和第三句，由艺术和社会学申请人数下降的原因可以推断学生趋向于申请就业前景好的学科，故D为答案。
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