Небольшой английский текст для практики чтения и перевода.
Studying in America: Pros and Cons
Shortly after Michail Gorbachev opened the door on America, more than
5,000 Russian undergraduate, graduate and exchange students went to the United States. Nearly all of them got there through their connections, and only a few distinguished themselves academically.
A little later, when the era of so-called New Russians set in, a defining factor in going to a U.S. university was being flush with money — by Russian standards. Today a higher education in the United States can cost up to several hundred thousand dollars, but this does little to discourage Russia’s rich.
According to Princeton University experts, at present there are 3,000 “self-supporting” undergraduates and graduates from Russia and about 1,000 students from other CIS countries in America.
The cost of tuition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the most prestigious and expensive training establishment in the US today (with an estimated 30 Russian students), is almost $35,000 a year.
Adding in the cost of housing, food, transport, and textbooks, the total can be double that amount. As the course lasts for four to five years, Russians studying here need to have a very sound financial base to be able to complete their studies.
All American top universities have Russian students, and experts believe that they are the main target of local head-hunters.
The fact is that by paying so much money for a course of training, parents secure not simply a promising career but also financial future for their children. A well-paid job will fully recoup tuition costs within three to four years after graduation. Any company in any part of the world will welcome a Harvard alumnus.
At first, Russian undergraduates at US universities feel unhappy about what they see as oversimplified curricula with some of the material already covered in high school in Russia.
But the balance is soon redressed, and they have an opportunity to advance academically without any limit, while those with a good head on their shoulders can get a highly paid job.
The main attraction to a student from Russia is the prospect of a good job abroad. Still, the majority of Russians graduating from even the most prestigious of American universities does not stay in the United States, but go home.
What is the outlook for them in Russia? Surveys show that they mainly go to work for their parents’ companies or foreign companies operating in Russia.
This, however, does not apply to alumni of the top American universities. At the same time Russians whose parents are not very rich enroll in American universities that do not guarantee a job even to US citizens.
Student exchange programmes are virtually nonexistent today. Russia’s higher schools have no money for that to say nothing about students themselves.
Moreover, there are very few of those wishing to do just one or two terms. Those who do come have difficulty getting a foothold in the United States, especially in the sphere of social sciences.
True, there are various advance training programmes funded by the US government. Only individual Russian students and teachers get on such programmes. But these people, by their own admission, simply hope to make some money, not pursue any useful academic programme.
Alumnus — (AmE) a former student of a college, or university