留英国际学生或将不再享受免费医疗

British Health Fee Adds Barrier for Foreign Students

留英国际学生或将不再享受免费医疗

The British government recently announced a proposal to introduce health care access fees for migrants and long-term visitors this year. The fees would affect some foreign students, who would for the first time have to pay for medical cover while in Britain.

英国政府最近宣布一项提案，旨在于今年向移民以及常年访问者征收医疗准入收费。这项收费可能会对外国学生产生影响，这个群体将首次需要为在英国期间接受医护服务而付费。

The proposal, published on Dec. 30, is part of an immigration bill now going through Parliament and does not expressly target students. But concerns are being voiced that it would set up yet another hurdle for international access to the British education system — one of the most prestigious in the world.

这项提案于2013年12月30日发布，是现由国会审议的移民法案的部分内容，原本针对的对象并非留学生。但现在人们普遍担忧，可能它会使得国际学生在进入英国教育体系时，又多了一道障碍——而这是全世界最有声望的教育体系之一。

“As a matter of principle, the levy is unfortunate and unfair,” said Dominic Scott, chief executive of the UK Council for International Student Affairs, the national advisory body for international students in Britain.

“原则上来说，这项收费并不成功，也并不公平，”多米尼克·斯科特(Dominic Scott)说，他是英国国际学生事务委员会(UK Council for International Student Affairs)的首席执行官，该机构是英国面向国际学生的全国性咨询机构。

Foreign students who need to apply for visas — those from countries outside the European Union — will have to pay 150 pounds, or roughly $250, per year of study when they are issued their visa, according to the plan laid out by the Department of Health.

根据英国卫生部颁布的计划，需持签证进入英国的留学生——即来自欧盟以外国家的学生——在申请签证的时候，每学年将额外支付150英镑，约合250美元。

The proposed charge is relatively minor compared with tuition and other costs that for a foreign student in Britain can easily reach £20,000 a year. Critics of the plan concede that it is unlikely, by itself, to turn many away. Still, they warn that it will add to a cumulative message that is increasingly unwelcoming.

留学生在英国一年的学费和其他开销加在一起，很容易就可达到2万英镑，与之相比，这项提案中的收费并不算什么。这项计划的批评者也承认，只是计划本身不大可能打消太多人来英国留学的念头。不过他们仍然警告说，它会传递出一个愈加强烈的信息，那就是英国日益加剧的不欢迎态度。

It comes during an often strident populist campaign for tighter immigration curbs and less than two years after the government eliminated a visa track, known as Tier-1 (post-study work), that allowed newly graduated foreigners to stay in Britain to work.

这个提案提出，正值言辞激烈的民粹主义阵营要求收紧移民政策，而且不到两年前，政府取消了所谓Tier-1(即毕业工作类签证计划，允许外国应届毕业生留在英国工作)的签证政策。

“Tier 1 was the hammer blow, but it’s just possible that people will see this as one damned thing after another,” Mr. Scott said.

“Tier-1事件就像一记重锤，不过有可能人们把这次的事当作是连锁反应，”斯科特说。

Daniel Stevens, the international students’ officer at the National Union of Students, the country’s largest student union, agreed: “You will see a shift in the attitude of international students toward other countries,” he said.

丹尼尔·斯蒂文斯(Daniel Stevens)是英国全国学生联合会(National Union of Students)的国际学生官员，该机构是全英最大的学生联盟，他同意斯科特的说法：“你将看到留学生渐渐倾向于去其他国家。”

Daniel Obst, deputy vice president of the Institute of International Education, in New York, said he thought it highly unlikely that the fee would cut the number of students going to Britain. Still, “every time you have a new regulation, there is concern,” he said. “You have to deal with the perceptions issue.”

丹尼尔·奥伯斯特(Daniel Obst)是位于纽约的国际教育研究所(Institute of International Education)的常务副总裁，他认为这项收费不大可能减少英国的留学生人数，但是，“每次你提出一项新举措，都会引起人们的忧虑，”他说，“你必须处理好别人对它的解读。”

Britain has long been a popular destination for study, and in recent years the trend has been strongly upward. In 2011, the last year for which comprehensive figures are available, it hosted nearly 420,000 international post-secondary students, including more than 290,000 from outside the European Union, according to data from Unesco. That was about 100,000 more in total — and 74,000 more non-European Union students — than were counted in a similar survey in 2005.

英国长久以来都是留学热门国家，而在近年这个趋势仍然在不断上升。根据UNESCO(联合国教科文组织)提供的数据，在最近一个有综合统计结果的年份，即2011年，英国接收了近42万名中学以上教育程度的留学生，其中包括29万多名欧盟以外国家的学生。相比2005年进行的类似调查结果，留学生总人数增加了10万，非欧盟国家学生的人数增加了7.4万人。

“Students that want to come to the U.K. will continue to come,” Mr. Obst said.

"想要来英国的学生还是会继续来的，"奥伯斯特说。

The Department of Health says it researched its proposed fees to ensure they were competitive compared with charges in other education destinations.

英国卫生部表示，他们对提案中的收费进行了研究，以保证和其他的留学目的地国家收费相比，他们仍然具有竞争力。

University recruiters also point out that other popular destinations, notably the United States, have always charged foreign students for health care.

大学招生人员也指出，其他受欢迎的留学目的地，特别是美国，一直都向留学生收取医疗费用。

“A British student going to the U.S. is going to have to pay for medical coverage too,” said Shaun Curtis, director of international affairs at Exeter University.

“去美国上学的英国学生也要花钱买医疗保险，”肖恩·柯蒂斯(Shaun Curtis)说，他是埃克塞特大学(Exeter University)的国际事务主管。

The proposed £150 a year may be seen as a drop in the bucket alongside tuition that, for a foreign student, can exceed £10,000 a year and living costs that can run around £800 a month (depending on the location), not to mention visa application costs of £400. International students who apply for a visa also need to show a bank balance with enough funds to cover the year.

这笔每年150英镑的开支或许并不是笔大数目，对一个留学生来说，他们每年的学费要超过1万英镑，生活开支将可能会达到每个月800英镑(取决于求学地区)，更不用说申请签证的400英镑花费了。国际学生申请签证时，也需要提供银行结余证明其有足够的资金度过这一年。

“International students, or their parents, tend to be quite affluent,” Dr. Curtis said.

“国际学生，或者说他们的父母，通常都是十分富裕的，”柯蒂斯说。

The Department of Health says the changes to how it charges users for health care will help recoup in total some £500 million yearly.

英国卫生部则表示，对使用医疗服务的收费进行这么一项小小的改变，每年能为英国带来5亿英镑的总收入。

“Having a universal health service free at the point of use rightly makes us the envy of the world, but we must make sure the system is fair to the hard-working British taxpayers who fund it,” Lord Howe, a junior health minister, said when he announced the plan.

“在医疗服务点提供全面的免费医疗，这令我们成为世人羡慕的对象，但我们必须确保这个系统对为它提供资金的辛勤工作的英国纳税人也是公平的，”英国卫生部次长贺维勋爵(Lord Howe)在宣布这个计划的时候这样表示。

Still, while the added cost may be insignificant for a single student on a three-year bachelor’s degree course, the cost for a graduate student with dependents could be substantial.

尽管新增的开支对于攻读三年学士学位课程的单身学生来说不算什么，但对于有家小的研究生来说，它可能是一笔不小的费用。

“If you are a Ph.D. student, you could actually find yourself paying £2,400 at a point of entry,” said Mr. Stevens of the student union.

“如果你是一个博士生，为了加入英国医保体系，你可能要支付2400英镑的基本费用，”学生联合会的斯蒂文斯说。

Yet Dr. Curtis of Exeter University said he expected British universities to retain their allure. “Our international population has increased significantly year on year, despite all the recent scare stories,” he said.

埃克塞特大学的柯蒂斯表示，他认为英国的大学能够保持它们的吸引力。“尽管最近有不少让人恐慌的传闻，我们的留学生人数还是逐年显著增长，”他说。