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克劳福特和王认为，学习成绩的倒退可以归结为两个因素。首先，中国学生没有学会调整学习方法，所以一年级以后随着学业难度的增加，他们成绩就开始下滑。其次，尽管中国和英国教育体系差别并不是那么大，但中国特别强调通过学习获得学历，这就意味着很多年轻人上大学是迫于家庭和就业的压力，而不是源自内心的动力。 爱丁堡大学教育和社会等级专业教授克里斯安娜•伊安内利表示，部分问题可能在于中国本科留学生的社会和经济背景正在发生变化。根据HESA的数据，伊安内利发现2000年和2001年在英国大学的中国留学生85%是成年人，多是由政府提供资金；自2004年开始，中国留学生年龄更小了，很多是女生，都是家里出钱来学习，因此需要更多的支持。“我们接收了这些学生，但并不了解他们，”伊安内利说，“我看到一些人很挣扎，因为在来这里之前他们并不知道自己应该做什么。”她说很难去衡量他们在学业方面准备得如何，因为很难以他们的普通教育高级证书（A-Levels）作为基准来评估他们的资质。“我们的大学是否就只顾接纳学生而不管学生之前的表现如何呢？我们有没有就国际上不同教育体系内的不同学历做过比较呢？”她提出这样的问题，“也许我们接纳的学生并未达标。也可能是语言障碍的原因，或者是他们在异国文化里还不适应。” Crawford and Wang believe the slump in attainment can be put down to two factors. First, Chinese students fail to adapt their approaches to learning and so their performance declines in the later years of a degree when the complexity of the work increases. And, second, while the UK and Chinese education systems are not that different, the strong focus in China on study and achieving qualifications means many young people enrol in higher education due to pressure from family or the jobs market rather than their own motivation. According to Cristina Iannelli, professor of education and social stratification at the University of Edinburgh, part of the problem may be the changing socio-economic background of Chinese undergraduates. Using figures from the Hesa, Ianelli found that while 85% of Chinese undergraduates at British universities in 2000 and 2001 were mature students, often funded by the Chinese government, since 2004, they have have been younger, more likely to be women, funded by their families and therefore more in need of support. "We accept all these students but we don't know much about them," says Ianelli. "I see some of them struggling because they really don't know before coming here exactly what is expected of them." She says it can be difficult to measure how well they are prepared academically because it is hard to benchmark the qualifications they have against A-levels. "Are we just opening up our universities and we don't care what their prior attainment is, or are we actually comparing qualifications across international education systems?" she asks. "We may be accepting students who aren't as good as they should be. Or it could be language, or experiencing a different culture." |
