本文选自《经济学人》11月2日文章。MBA学位曾被认为是职场的一块跳板，但现在申请MBA的人数不断下降，尤其是美国，即使是闻名世界的哈佛商学院，今年申请人数也下降了6%。除了因为美国的反移民政策将很多人拒之门外，另一个重要原因是高昂的学费，现在MBA课程费用是10年前的两倍，但学校提供的价值并没有随之增长两倍。本文作者认为，为改善这一现状，学校应该控制学费，拥抱科技，在网上开设MBA课程，不能仅依靠单一的案例分析授课，而应该增加课程的深度和全面性。这篇文章短小精悍，用词丰富，结构紧凑，逻辑缜密，是写作的典范，建议大家阅读全文。
选文精讲
The future of management educationWe have obtained a copy of a recent letter to a business deanON BEHALF OF the trustees of the Gordon Gekko Business School, I write with a helicopter view on our beloved institution. There is good news and bad. First, congratulations are in order. Under your leadership, GorGeBS has again been named by The Economist as one of the world’s top 100 business schools.
- helicopter view: （对问题的）通盘检视
- congratulations are in order: 祝贺您
我代表戈登·盖柯商学院的受托人，以审视全盘的视角来描述我们钟爱的商学院，消息好坏参半。首先，祝贺您，在您的领导下，戈登·盖柯商学院再次被《经济学人》评为全球百强商学院之一。
The bad news is that our best-of-breed status is in jeopardy because the very business model of our school faces tectonic challenges. Demand is plunging. Our MBA applications are down by a quarter. Across America, applications to business schools have fallen for five years in a row. Even at Harvard, they are down this year by about 6%.
坏消息是，我们的优势地位岌岌可危，因为我们学校的商业模式正面临结构性挑战。需求在暴跌，我们MBA申请情况下降了四分之一。在美国，申请商学院的人数已经连续五年下降，即使在哈佛，今年也下降了6%。
One reason is a drop in international applicants, many of whom are put off by America’s anti-immigration policies. But before you rush to blame all those law graduates staffing up government departments, the bigger factor is that we are charging too much. Our MBA costs nearly twice as much as it did a decade ago, but nobody believes we are delivering twice as much value.
原因之一是国际申请者的减少，他们中的许多人被美国的反移民政策拒之门外。但不要急着指责那些进入政府部门的法学毕业生，更重要的原因是我们收费过高。我们的MBA课程的费用几乎是10年前的两倍，但没人相信我们提供的价值是10年前的两倍。
