Europe has long been a continent defined by its divisions, whether east and west, Anglo-Saxon and Latin or those pushing to leave or further integrate the EU. But there was at least one uniting factor across Europe this year, the growth of business education.
长期以来，欧洲一直是一块以种种割裂著称的大陆——无论是东欧与西欧、盎格鲁-撒克逊文化与拉丁文化，还是退欧派与推动欧盟进一步融合的力量。但今年至少有一个凝聚欧洲各地的因素：商科教育的增长。
Most surprising has been the UK’s maintenance of its position in the top 25 of the European schools table, despite fears about the impact of Brexit. London Business School, which retained the number one spot, plays in a different league to many British business education providers. But there are also more UK schools in the top 25, with seven British institutions this year, up from six in 2017. France has six schools in the top 25 but 25 in the complete ranking of 95, compared with the UK’s 22.
最出人意料的是，虽然各方担忧英国退欧造成的影响，但英国商学院保住了在欧洲商学院排行榜前25名中的位置。仍居榜首的伦敦商学院(LBS)与英国许多商学院提供商属于完全不同的等级。但进入前25名的英国商学院也有所增加，今年有7所英国商学院跻身于这一行列，高于2017年的6所。法国有6所商学院进入前25名，但在所有上榜的95所院校中，法国有25所，英国有22所。
There is an irony in that some of the loudest voices of concern about the UK’s exit from the EU have come from within academia and business schools. Although the reasons for UK schools doing relatively well in the past 24 months are complex, they can certainly thank the drop in the value of the pound, making tuition fees relatively cheaper for students from overseas. Concerns about US policies towards foreign students also make the UK a relatively attractive option.
具有讽刺意味的是，对英国退欧的一些最强烈担忧之声来自学术界和商学院。虽然英国商学院过去24个月表现相对出色的原因多种多样，但它们肯定应该感谢英镑贬值，这使得海外学员的学费变得相对便宜。对美国留学生政策的担忧，也使英国成为一个相对有吸引力的选择。
Britain has also enjoyed a particular boost from the government’s imposition of an apprenticeship levy, forcing employers with a payroll of more than £3m to put aside an equivalent of 0.5 per cent of their wage bill for staff training. In a classic example of the law of unintended consequences, a large part of this money, which policymakers had assumed would be spent on the training of school-leavers, has been used to send senior executives on part-time MBA and masters level business degree courses.
另一项对英国尤其有利的政策是政府开征收学徒税(Apprenticeship Levy)，迫使年度工资总额超过300万英镑的雇主拿出相当于工资总额0.5%的资金用于员工培训。作为“始料不及后果定律”(law of unintended consequences)的经典案例，政策制定者原本以为这些资金将用于培训中学毕业生，但如今很大一部分被用于送高管上在职MBA和硕士水平商学学位课程。