在卡塔尔的大学城，美国大学建立学术绿洲 [美国媒体]

In Qatar’s Education City, U.S. colleges are building an academic oasis

在卡塔尔的大学城，美国大学建立学术绿洲

By Nick Anderson December 6, 2015

作者：尼克·安德森    时间：2015年十二月6日



Students cross a sky bridge at the temporary site of Northwestern University in Qatar on the Education City campus in Doha on Nov. 2. The school is housed in a building intended for Carnegie Mellon University Qatar. (Bonnie Jo Mount/Washington Post)

这里是西北大学位于卡塔尔多哈大学城中的一个临时教学点。时值十一月2日，学生们正在天桥上通行。该教学点用的房子原本是卡内基·梅隆大学为自己在卡塔尔准备的。

DOHA, Qatar — Northwestern University came here to teach journalism and communication, a tough assignment in a country with tight controls on public speech. It was the latest in a series of prestigious U.S. universities the wealthy emirate lured to a monumental complex on the desert’s edge, called Education City.

卡塔尔多哈——西北大学来此教授新闻传播学。在一个对公共言论实施严格控制的国家里（教授新闻传播学）是一项艰难的工作。这个富裕的酋长国将受它引诱而来的一系列有声望的美国大学都安置在沙漠边缘的这座宏伟的被称作大学城的建筑群中，西北大学是（它们中间）最后入驻的一个。

Terms were generous: Academic freedom guaranteed, world-class facilities, expenses fully covered. All Northwestern had to do was build a program on par with those at its home campus outside Chicago, and award degrees here bearing its name.

当时的条件还是很慷慨的：保证学术自由、世界一流的设备、报销全部费用。西北大学所要做的不过就是在这里建立一个能与它在芝加哥外的主校区相媲美的教学计划，并以它的名义授予学位。

“It was a good deal,” said Everette E. Dennis, Northwestern’s dean in Qatar. “No financial risk. The only risk was reputational.” A university home to the renowned Medill School of Journalism would not want to lower standards to satisfy the whims of sheikhs 7,000 miles from Lake Michigan.

卡塔尔西北大学的院长埃弗瑞特·E·丹尼斯说：“当时来看这是一笔不错的交易。没有财政风险。唯一要冒险的就是名誉。”一所拥有着名的梅迪尔新闻学院的大学不想降低标准去满足一群距离密歇根湖7000英里远的阿拉伯酋长们的一时兴致。

Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, Texas A&M and Virginia Commonwealth universities all struck the same bargain with Qatari leaders. A foundation the ruling family created has spent billions of dollars over 15 years — the six U.S. branches receive a total outlay of more than $320 million each year — to import elite higher education in specialties from medicine to foreign service, engineering to fine arts, enabling Qataris to obtain coveted U.S. degrees without leaving the Persian Gulf.

康奈尔大学、卡内基·梅隆大学、乔治屯大学、德州农工大学、以及弗吉尼亚州立大学全都与卡塔尔的酋长们达成了相同的协议。一个由统治卡塔尔的家族创立的基金在过去15年中已经花掉了数以亿计的美元用于引进精英级别的大学教育，而所涉及的专业从制药到外交事务、从工程到美术一应俱全，为的就是让卡塔尔人不出波斯湾就能获得那令人垂涎已久的美国学位。

“The idea of having an Ivy League education in the comfort of your own home?” said Ahmed Al-Qahtani, 24, an aspiring ophthalmologist and third-year student at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. “All I can say is, thank you, your Highness, for everything.”

24岁的艾哈迈德·卡塔尼既是一名有抱负的眼科医师，又是卡塔尔威尔·康奈尔医学院的三年级学生。他说：“我只想说，殿下，我为每一件事感谢你。”

U.S. colleges and universities run dozens of branch campuses around the world, reflecting rapid globalization in academia. Education City is perhaps the most prominent example of this trend, offering an optimistic vision of social advancement in the Middle East at a time of global concern about war in Syria and the Islamic State’s role in terrorism.

美国的各个大学已经在世界范围内建立了几十所分校，这反映了学术正在快速的全球化。卡塔尔大学城也许是这股趋势中最惹人瞩目的例子，因为当全球都在关注叙利亚战争及其伊斯兰国在恐怖主义中所扮演的角色时，它为中东的社会进步提供了一个乐观的景象。

But the Doha experiment, financed with riches from natural gas and oil exports, also is a huge gamble.

但是多哈这次用天然气和石油财富资助的尝试也是一场巨大的赌博。

Qatar, a nation of 2.2 million on the Arabian peninsula, faces the uncertainty of what Western teachings could unleash in a culturally conservative, predominantly Muslim society that takes Islamic law seriously. While U.S. universities prize independent thought and free speech, Qatar’s monarchy wields virtually absolute power in a nation with few forums for political dissent.

卡塔尔，这个阿拉伯半岛上人口220万的国家面对着西方所教授的东西所带来的不确定性，因为这些知识可能解除这个严格执行伊斯兰教法的绝对穆斯林社会的文化保守性。当美国大学奖励独立思考和言论自由的时候，卡塔尔的君主政体实际上能在该国实施绝对的权力，而有政治异议的论坛几乎不存在。



The universities face the risk that their sterling brands could be weakened if their Qatar operations fall short of U.S. standards. They also must defend a venture that ties them to a regime with numerous critics.

这些大学面临的风险则是一旦它们在卡塔尔的教学达不到美国的标准，那么它们含金量颇高的品牌就有可能被削弱。第二个它们必须冒的风险就是将它们自身与一个受到颇多批评的政权系在一起。

Soccer fans wonder whether corruption helped Qatar land the World Cup in 2022. Israel advocates question Qatari connections to the Palestinian Hamas leadership in Gaza. Human rights monitors decry the imprisonment of a Qatari poet, Mohammed al-’Ajami, for spreading verse deemed seditious and insulting to the emir.

足球迷们想知道是不是贪污腐败帮助卡塔尔进入了2022年的世界杯。以色列支持质询卡塔尔与加沙巴勒斯坦哈马斯领导层的联系。“人权监督”谴责卡特尔因为其诗人默罕默德·阿加米散布据信对现任埃米尔有煽动性和攻击性的诗句而监禁他。

University leaders acknowledge challenges.

大学领导们承认有挑战。

“We are present in a very complex context, a complex region,” Georgetown President John J. DeGioia said. The university “carefully and exhaustively examined” whether the venture would compromise its “core moral values” before agreeing in 2005 to start a branch here of its School of Foreign Service, he said. That branch is entering its second decade, and DeGioia said he remains convinced that Georgetown made the right decision.

“我们现在处在一个复杂地区的非常复杂的环境中，”乔治屯大学校长约翰·J·德吉尔说。他还说：乔治屯大学早在2005年同意在此处开设分校教授外交事务专业以前就“认真且详尽地调查过”是否这场冒险将损害该大学的“核心道德价值”。德吉尔校长说他坚信乔治屯大学作出了正确的决定。

“Being engaged is better than not,” he said. “We are contributing, I think, to building a common good in the region.”

“参与进来好过什么都不做，”他说。“我认为我们正在为该地区的大众利益做贡献。”



Alya Al Harthy, right, from Oman, listens to peer James Copplestone Farmer, from England, at Northwestern University in Qatar on the Education City campus. Both students are seniors studying communication. Education City is home to several U.S. university branches and draws students from other nations. (Bonnie Jo Mount/Washington Post)

位于照片右边的这位妇女是来自阿曼的奥雅·阿希，她正在大学城的卡塔尔西北大学里倾听英国同学詹姆斯·库珀斯通·法墨发言。（《华盛顿邮报》伯妮·琼·蒙特）

Exporting U.S. higher education overseas has long drawn concerns, and well beyond Qatar. U.S. university branches have been accused of benefiting from migrant labor exploitation in Abu Dhabi and providing undue legitimacy to repressive regimes in China and Singapore.
Harry R. Lewis, a computer scientist and former dean of Harvard College, said he worries about attempts to replicate the American collegiate experience in societies where Western values may not be as strong.

向海外输出美国的高等教育一直以来都引来很多担忧，（这种担忧）不独只针对卡塔尔。这些美国大学的分校被指责在阿布扎比依靠剥削流动劳动力获利，（还被指责）为中国和新加坡的具有镇压性的政权提供过分的合法性证明。哈利·R·列维斯是哈佛学院的计算机科学家兼前院长。他对在那些西方价值观可能不是那么强大的社会复制美国的大学经验的尝试表示担忧。

“It’s like trying to pick up French grapevines and plant them in Idaho or somewhere,” Lewis said. “It might work. But the soil conditions and the light conditions are different. Those things really matter.”

“这就好比从法国捡一堆葡萄藤，然后将它们栽进爱达荷州一样，”列维斯说。“它们可能会存活。但是土壤和日照条件都发生了改变。而正是土壤与日照才真正决定了一切。”

Independent since 1971, Qatar lies between regional powers Saudi Arabia and Iran. Before the discovery of oil, its economy depended on fishing and pearl diving. Now one of the world’s wealthiest countries, Qatar is vital to the United States as a stage for military operations. First lady Michelle Obama visited Al Udeid Air Base outside Doha in November to show support for U.S. troops.

卡塔尔自从1971年独立以来一直躺在地区强权沙特阿拉伯与伊朗之间的夹缝中寻找存在感。在发现石油之前，卡塔尔的经济依靠的是捕鱼业和珍珠采集。现在卡塔尔是世界上最富裕的国家之一。作为采取军事行动时的一个扎营地，它对美国极端重要。十一月份的时候第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马曾拜访过多哈郊外的犹戴德空军基地，此举旨在显示（该基地）对美国军队的支持。

Obama also met in Education City with Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, mother of Qatar Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Chair of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, the sheikha has been the driving force behind the higher education project.

奥巴马也曾和现任卡塔尔埃米尔塔米姆·本·阿迈德·塔尼的母亲墨扎·本特·纳赛尔公主一起访问过大学城。这位公主身为卡塔尔的教育、科学和社会发展基金的主席，一直以来都是该高等教育项目的背后驱动力量。

Mindful that gas and oil reserves will not last forever, Sheikha Moza said she wants Education City to catalyze a transition to a “knowledge-based” economy.

墨扎公主说她时刻不忘天然气和石油储备不会永远存在，因此她打算让这座大学城促进该国经济向以“知识为基础”的经济转变。

“Bringing these academic programs here was not just for the sake of the programs,” she said in fluent English in an interview at the Qatar National Convention Center. “We brought them here to elevate all aspects of our society” — including, she said, economics and politics. “We wanted our citizens to be mentally open. We wanted them to be critical thinkers, to have a stake in the country.”

她在卡特尔国家会议中心接受采访时用流利的英语说：“把这些学术计划带到这里来不仅仅是因为这些计划本身的原因。我们把它们带到这里来是想全面提升我们的社会”——她说这其中也包括经济和政治。“我们想让我们的公民思想开放。我们想让他们在拥有这个国家的一份之前成为有批判性的思考者。”

How much critical thinking Qatar is willing to nurture remains a question as reports of censorship emerge from time to time. Author Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar, who has taught English here for VCU, Northwestern and Georgetown, said her novel “Love Comes Later” was banned last year with little explanation.

不过在有关审查制度的报道一次又一次出现的时候，卡塔尔究竟愿意在多大程度上培养批判性思考能力仍然是一个疑问。默安娜拉克什米·拉贾库马是一位作家，同时也在这里为弗吉尼亚州立大学、西北大学以及乔治屯大学教授英语。她说去年（2014年）她的小说《爱随后来》在不给任何解释的情况下被禁了。

“I’m surprised to hear that,” Sheikha Moza said of the incident. The sheikha said social media is rapidly making censorship an “outdated” issue. She also said she once personally intervened to free up a book shipment to Education City that was stuck in customs. “They gave us a paper to sign,” she said.

墨扎公主在谈到此事时说：“听到这个事我很惊讶。”该公主说社会媒体正快速地将审查制度变成一个“过时的”问题。她还说曾有一批发往大学城的书被关在海关时，她本人以个人的名义干涉过这批书的放行。“他们给我们一份文件，让我们在上面签字，”她说。

Students attending Georgetown University's campus in Qatar describe how they plan to use their degrees to contribute to social advancements in their communities. (Bonnie Jo Mount and Ashleigh Joplin/The Washington Post)

在卡塔尔乔治屯大学上学的学生们说他们计划用他们的所学为自己社区的社会进步做贡献。

This fall, about 2,000 students are enrolled here in U.S. universities. Nearly all of them applied and were admitted straight into the six branches. Universities insist the ruling family and other influential people get no special treatment.

今年秋季学期大约有2000名学生被这里的美国大学录取。他们几乎是只要申请就会立即被这六所分校直接录取。大学坚持说统治家族和其他有影响的人没有得到特殊待遇。

Of 361 applicants to Georgetown in Qatar this year, 179 were accepted. The admission rate of 50 percent compares with 17 percent for Georgetown in Washington. Tuition is the same: about $48,000 a year. All Qatari students receive tuition grants from their government, Georgetown said. Many non-Qatari students receive loans.

卡塔尔乔治屯大学今年的361名申请者中有179名被录取。在这里的录取率是50%，而在华盛顿乔治屯大学的录取率只有17%，不过学费是一样的：一年大约48,000美元。乔治屯大学说所有的卡塔尔学生都会从他们的政府那里得到学费补助。许多非卡塔尔学生则会得到贷款。

The first Catholic university in the United States, Georgetown maintains its Jesuit identity in Doha. One afternoon in November, theologian Akintunde E. Akinade led a discussion of Judaism in a required class called “The Problem of God.” Akinade and his students wrestled with the Ten Commandments, Psalm 91 — “the Lord is my refuge” — and Elie Wiesel’s Holocaust memoir “Night.”

乔治屯大学是美国国内的第一所天主教大学，这一次在多哈它保留了其天主教身份。十一月份的一个下午，神学家阿金汤德·E·阿金内德在一堂名为“上帝的问题”的必修课上指导了一场针对犹太教的讨论。阿金内德和他的学生们就《十诫》、《91行赞美诗》中的诗句“上帝是我的庇护者”、以及艾利·威赛尔的大屠杀回忆录《夜》展开了艰苦的辩论。

“This is not a church,” said Akinade, an Anglican minister from Nigeria. “This is not a mosque. We’re not here to preach to you. We’re here to engage you, to make you think as a scholar.”

“这里不是教堂，”来自尼日利亚的英国国教牧师阿金内德说。“这里也不是清真寺。我们在这里不是为了向你布道。我们在这里只是向你保证我们让你像一个学者那样思考。”

The Georgetown campus, like the others, is deeply international, with students from Oman, Mexico, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and more. Many have the zigzag life stories of the expatriate majority in Qatar.

这里的乔治屯大学校园和它的其它分校一样国际化程度都非常深。它的学生来自安曼、墨西哥、伊拉克、巴基斯坦、沙特阿拉伯、黎巴嫩等等国家。许多在卡塔尔的外籍学生都是逃到卡塔尔的，都有着曲折的人生故事。

Israa Al-Kamali, 20, a junior, came here from Baghdad with her family before the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. She applied to universities in Education City and the United Kingdom, choosing Georgetown in Doha for its diversity, location and small class size. The student-faculty ratio here is 5 to 1. On the Washington campus called the Hilltop, it is 11 to 1.

20岁的伊士拉·卡密利是一名三年级的学生。2003年美国入侵伊拉克之前她和她的家人从巴格达来到此地。她同时申请了大学城和英国的几所大学，而选择乔治屯大学则是因为它在（种族、宗教等方面的）多样性以及它的位置和小班教学模式。这里学生和老师的比例是5:1。而在被称作“山顶”的华盛顿的校区，这个比例是11:1。

After graduation she wants to work on “saving and reviving culture,” Al-Kamali said. She worries about what the Islamic State is doing to her native country, ravaged by war for much of her life. “The ancient culture is under threat,” she said. “Museums are under threat.”

卡密利说毕业以后她想为“拯救和复兴文化”而工作。她对伊斯兰国这个组织正在其祖国干的事感到担忧。她的生活几乎被战争毁了。“古老的文化受到威胁，”她说。“博物馆受到威胁。”

Students here say they have complete freedom of expression. “Never a problem,” said Abdullah Ahmad, 22, a senior from Pakistan. “We take great pride in it.”

这里的学生说他们可以完全自由地发表他们的想法。“没有问题，”来自巴基斯坦的22岁高年级生阿卜杜拉·艾哈迈德说。“我们为自己是这所学校的学生而深感自豪。”

Ahmad said he was drawn by generous financial aid and the scale of ambitions: Education City is composed of palatial edifices of angled stone and glass, with trickling fountains and palm trees. Northwestern’s new building is encased in amber travertine limestone from Turkey.

艾哈迈德说他是被慷慨的财政援助和巨大的雄心吸引过来的：大学城那像宫殿一样的建筑群是由砌成尖角的石头和玻璃所建成，其间还有流淌的人工喷泉和棕榈树。

“Everything is so grand here,” Ahmad said. “Nothing can be medium. Everything has to stand out.”

“这里的每一件事都是如此宏伟，”艾哈迈德说。“这里的任何东西都无法平庸。每一件事物都必须突出。”



The exterior of Texas A&M University at Qatar on the Education City campus in Doha. (Bonnie Jo Mount/Washington Post)

位于卡塔尔多哈大学城的德克萨斯农工大学外景。



Male students interact in a “majlis” — an area designated for men — at Texas A&M University at Qatar on Nov. 2. (Bonnie Jo Mount/Washington Post)

十一月2日在卡特尔的德州农工大学一个专为男性设立的名为“议会”的地方，男性学生正在这里交流。

Education City was nearly an enterprise of the University of Virginia. In 1998, the Qatar Foundation launched talks with U-Va. to start a branch in engineering, liberal arts, commerce and medicine. The state legislature and governor encouraged placing the Virginia flagship at a global crossroads.

大学城差不多就是弗吉尼亚大学旗下的一个大型项目。1998年，上述的卡塔尔基金数次找到弗吉尼亚大学谈话，想该大学在卡塔尔建立分校教授工程、文科、商业和医学。弗吉尼亚州的立法机构和州长则鼓励该大学在这个全球处于重大转折的地方建立弗吉尼亚最好的旗舰店。

But the U-Va. governing board rejected the plan in 1999. “A major disappointment,” recalled John T. Casteen III, U-Va.’s president at the time. He said some on the board seemed concerned about academic freedom. “I remember being told it was just a long way from Virginia.”

但是弗吉尼亚大学的董事会于1999年拒绝了该计划。“太令人失望了，”时任该大学校长的约翰·T·卡斯汀回忆道。他说董事会的一些人似乎更关心学术自由。“我记得曾被告知这个计划距离弗吉尼亚大学还很远 。”

Undeterred, the foundation wooed other U.S. universities. The breakthrough came in 2001, when Cornell agreed to establish a medical school, Qatar’s first, with a reported promise of $750 million in support over a decade.

虽然遭到拒绝，但是该基金并没有被吓住，它又去寻求其它的美国大学支持。当2001年康奈尔大学同意建立医学院的时候，突破点终于来到。有报道说卡塔尔允诺在第一个十年合同期间之内投入7亿5千万美元的支持。

Hunter R. Rawlings III, Cornell’s president at the time, said the university’s motive was idealistic.

彼时康奈尔大学的校长亨特·R·洛林斯三世说该大学的动机非常理想主义。

“Part of our thinking was, most American involvement in the Middle East has to do with guns and oil,” recalled Rawlings, now president of the Association of American Universities. “This project seems to have to do with medicine and education. It’s such a different message. Why don’t we try it?”

洛林斯现在是美国大学联合会的主席。他回忆说：“我们当时的部分想法是美国人牵涉进中东最多的就是枪和石油。而这个计划似乎是与医学以及教育相关的。这传递出一个完全不同的信息。我们为什么不试试呢？”

Others followed. Texas A&M agreed to teach engineering; Carnegie Mellon, business and computer science. VCU, which had run an arts and design program here since 1998, signed a 10-year deal. Then came Georgetown and, in 2008, Northwestern.

然后其它大学也紧随而上。德州农工大学教工程；卡内基·梅隆大学教授商业和计算机科学。弗吉尼亚大学签了一份为期10年的合同，并于1998年开始在这里教授艺术与设计。紧跟而来的是乔治屯大学以及于2008年入驻的西北大学。

The six U.S. schools have awarded more than 2,250 degrees here. Graduates have moved into prominent graduate schools and positions in government, private industry, hospitals and the Doha-based Arab news outlet Al Jazeera.

六所美国大学在这里设立了超过2250个学位授予点。而毕业生们则要么已经就读着名的研究生院、要么在政府、私企、医院或是多哈的作为阿语新闻输出口的半岛电视台就职。

The rise of Education City also benefited young women from Muslim families whose parents worried about sending them abroad. More than 40 percent of Texas A&M’s students here are female, a much larger share than found in many U.S. engineering programs. Meera Abu Soufah, 20, the student body president, an aspiring chemical engineer, said her experience “really shows the Aggie spirit.”

大学城的崛起也让那些来自穆斯林家庭的年轻妇女受益。她们的父母对将她们送到国外读书很不放心。40%就读此地德州农工大学的学生是女性，这个比例比美国本土许多工程专业的女生比例都要高得多。20岁的米拉·阿布·苏福不仅是学生会主席，还是一位有抱负的化学工程专业学生。她说她的经历才“真正显示了农学院的精神。”



Visitors relax on the grounds the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, on Nov. 6. The building was designed by I.M. Pei. Doha has numerous buildings designed by famous architects. The Doha skyline is in the background. (Bonnie Jo Mount/Washington Post)

十一月6日，参观者在卡塔尔多哈的伊斯兰艺术博物馆的庭院中休息。该建筑由贝聿铭设计。多哈有许多由着名建筑师设计的建筑。背景是多哈的地平线。

Many details about operations of Education City are shrouded in secrecy. Mohamad Fathy Saoud, a former foundation president, said “a few billion dollars” were spent on facilities. The total annual outlay for the six branches is more than $320 million, according to data from U.S. education and tax records and university officials. In 2014, the foundation provided Northwestern $45.3 million, Georgetown $59.5 million and Cornell $121.7 million for Qatar activities, according to officials and U.S. records.

许多有关大学城是如何运作的的细节都被秘密掩盖了。上述所提的基金的前主席默罕穆德·法斯·萨乌德说设备就花了“数十亿美元”。根据来自美国教育以及税收记录、还有大学行政官员提供的数据，每年这六所大学的花费超过3亿2千万美元。根据行政人员及其美国的记录，2014年该基金为这些大学在卡塔尔开展的活动分别提供给西北大学4530万美元、乔治屯大学5950万美元、康奈尔大学12170万美元。

The four private universities declined to release their contracts with the foundation. But VCU disclosed its contract to The Washington Post because it is a public record. (A Post request for Texas A&M’s contract under state public records law is pending.)

有四所私立大学拒绝公开它们与该基金签订的合同。但是弗吉尼亚州立大学向《华盛顿邮报》公开了它与该基金签订的合同，因为该合同本来就是公开的。（请求德州农工大学依照《国家公共记录法》公开合同的邮件还悬而未决。）

VCU’s second 10-year agreement with the foundation took effect in July 2012. It stipulates that VCU in Qatar, or VCUQ, shall have the “same standards of quality for faculty, staff, students and curricula” that are maintained at the main campus in Richmond; that VCU will control hiring and admissions; that the VCUQ dean reports to university officials in the United States; and that VCUQ “shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, and shall not abridge the rights of freedom of speech or religion.”

弗吉尼亚州立大学与该基金签订的第二个10年合同于2012年七月生效。该合同规定设立于卡塔尔的弗吉尼亚州立大学（或者称作“卡塔尔弗吉尼亚州立大学”）在“教职员工的标准、工作人员、学生以及课程的设立方面要与里士满的主校区保持一致”；聘用和录取由弗吉尼亚州立大学控制；卡塔尔弗吉尼亚州立大学的院长要向美国的大学行政人员报告；卡塔尔弗吉尼亚州立大学“不准从种族、肤色、宗教、国籍、性别方面进行歧视，也不能剥夺言论及宗教自由的权利。”

The agreement also states that “admission priority shall be given to qualified Qatari citizens” and that faculty and staff “shall participate in an extensive orientation program in Doha” on the “respective cultures” in Qatar and at the university. The agreement gives the foundation power to approve annual budgets.

该合同还声明“优先录取合格的卡塔尔公民”，并要求教职员工“参与讨论卡塔尔及该大学内部多种文化的一个外延性任职培训”。该合同将每年预算的批准权交于该基金。

The estimated operating budget for VCUQ in fiscal 2013 was $39.5 million, with tuition and fees supplying $9.2 million and the foundation the rest. The total included a management fee to VCU of more than $3.6 million.

估计2013财政年度给弗吉尼亚州立大学的活动经费预算、学费支出及各项支持费用是3950万美元。该基金余下的支持费用是920万美元。付给弗吉尼亚州立大学的管理费用超过360万美元。

At no expense to Virginia taxpayers, the deal gave the state university global cachet. Without VCUQ, “would VCU be as well known around the world as it has become?” university President Michael Rao asked. “I don’t know. I have to say I seriously doubt that.”

在没有花弗吉尼亚纳税人一分钱的情况下，该交易还给了这个州立联邦大学一笔可在全球炫耀的资本。该大学校长米盖尔·劳问：没有卡塔尔弗吉尼亚州立大学，“弗吉尼亚州立大学还会不会如它现在这样举世闻名呢？我不知道。我必须说对此我非常怀疑。”



Students socialize at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar on the Education City campus in Doha on Nov. 3. The space is designed to embrace Middle Eastern style and comfort. (Bonnie Jo Mount/Washington Post)

十一月3日，多哈大学城校区的卡塔尔弗吉尼亚州立大学，学生们的社交活动。这个地方的设计集中东风格与舒适于一体。



Students at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar watch a women's basketball game at Education City in Doha on Nov. 4. Students from the university enthusiastically supported the game against Texas A&M, which VCU won. (Bonnie Jo Mount/Washington Post)

十一月4日，卡塔尔弗吉尼亚州立大学的学生正在观看大学城的女子篮球赛。来自该大学的学生用无比的热情支持这场对战德州农工大学的比赛。最终弗吉尼亚州立大学胜。

Student life is perhaps quieter here than in the States. Alcohol is scarce, officials say, fraternities and sororities unknown. Universities offer freshmen some only-in-Doha activities: a scavenger hunt at the famous Souq Waqif market, a dhow cruise on the gulf with classmates. There are student clubs and sports such as soccer, cricket and basketball.

这里的学生生活也许比美国的更安静。行政官员说酒精是几乎没有的，而大学生联谊会以及女学生联谊会也从不存在。各个大学为新生提供一些仅仅在多哈才有的活动：在着名的瓦其夫集市来一次寻宝游戏，和同学一起去波斯湾乘坐独桅帆船。学生俱乐部和诸如足球、板球、篮球这样的体育俱乐部还是有的。

One night a thudding soundtrack of brass and drums filled a VCUQ hall at a pep rally next to a tented and carpeted lounge known as a majlis. Students visiting from Richmond circled up with peers here to teach them to jump, clap and yell what VCU calls its “War Chant.” Then fans and players spilled outside for a rowdy march to the student center for VCU’s game against Texas A&M in women’s basketball.

有天晚上，就在铺了地毯的、以“议会”着称的帐篷形状的休息大厅隔壁，一次赛前动员会上的铜管乐器和鼓发出震耳欲聋的声音，将卡塔尔弗吉尼亚州立大学的娱乐中心填满。来自里士满的访问学生与这里的同伴们围成一圈，并教他们跳、拍手以及喊叫弗州大学的“战争歌谣”。然后狂热的支持者与运动员们涌到外面，VCU和德州农工大学之间那一场狂野的女子篮球赛将在学生中心展开。

Rams vs. Aggies, dueling in Doha. On other nights the rivals might be Tartans, Hoyas, Wildcats or the Big Red.

公羊和农民在多哈内部决斗。下一个晚上对决的可能是单桅帆船、乔治城大学、野猫或者红甜椒。

Fitrya Amanda, 19, a junior on the team, wore a black headscarf along with her black and gold uniform, #23, and VCU stickers on her cheeks. Born in Indonesia, she grew up in Doha and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in fine arts when she’s not shooting hoops. Amanda plays a swing position, front and back court.

19岁的三年级学生法蒂亚·阿曼达是球队一员。她戴着黑色的头巾，穿着印有23号的黑色和金色队服，还把弗吉尼亚州立大学的贴纸贴在双颊上。她出生在印度尼西亚，成长于多哈。当不打篮球的时候她在为获得艺术专业的本科文凭努力学习。阿曼达在球队中的位置很灵活，既打前锋也打后卫。

“We consider ourselves Rams,” she said. “We love being Rams.”

“我们认为自己就是弗州大学的一员，”她说。“成为弗州大学的学生是我们的渴望。”

Steven Pagach, 20, a junior from Fairfax County who plays trumpet in the Richmond pep band, marveled at the scene. “This is an incredible experience,” he said during his visit. “It’s just really, really cool to see they love VCU as much as we do.”

20岁的斯蒂夫·帕佳奇来自费尔费克斯县，在里士满校区读三年级，同时也是里士满校区的“活力乐队”的喇叭乐手。他当时也在访问多哈的学生中间，当看到那副场景时说：“这真是令人难以置信的经历。看到他们和我们一样热爱弗吉尼亚州立大学，我真的真的感到太酷了。”



Freshman Nimrah Kabiruddin, from India, reviews work in the surface studio at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar on the Education City campus in Doha on Nov. 3. (Bonnie Jo Mount/Washington Post)

时间：十一月3日。地点：弗吉尼亚州立大学位于多哈的大学城校区。来自印度的一年级新生尼姆拉·卡比路蒂丁正在“表面工作室”检查她的作品。

Faculty members at Education City are a global lot. Some come from the States for a short-term gig, are surprised at how much they like it, and stay years. Others are hired locally. Carnegie Mellon’s dean in Qatar, Ilker Baybars, called faculty recruiting “the most difficult part of my job.” It is hard to persuade tenured professors to trade life on a bustling American campus for Doha, where the academic community is small and the weather ranges from pleasant to sweltering. Schools sometimes offer U.S. faculty a salary premium of 25 percent, and generous housing arrangements.

大学城的教师们分布全球。有一些美国人本来只是来这里做短期工作的，但是当他们吃惊地发现他们有多么喜欢这里之后就会在这里一待数年。还有一些人是从当地聘请的。卡内基·梅隆大学卡塔尔校区的院长伊克尔·贝巴斯说征募教师是“我的工作中最困难的那一部分”。劝说具有终身教职的教授们到位于多哈的那些美国大学的闹哄哄的分校来卖命是一件很艰难的事。首先这里的校区很小，而且这里的天气虽然有时很宜人，但有时很闷人。各大分校时不时会给美国的教师提供一笔多出25%附加费的薪水，还提供舒适的住房。

Qatar also dangles research funding as an incentive.

卡塔尔方面也会以研究基金为诱饵刺激（教师到这里来）。

Faculty members and deans at all six branches said they have complete academic freedom. That doesn’t mean there are no compromises.

在这六所分校的教师和院长们都说他们有完全的学术自由。但这并不意味着没有妥协。

VCUQ won’t use nude models to teach art, in deference to cultural norms. Nathan Davies, an assistant professor at VCUQ, showed a reporter an art book from the campus collection in which someone had placed metallic tape over portions of nude body images in an apparent effort to enforce a standard of modesty. But Davies said such incidents can be positive because they stimulate debate.

鉴于文化准则，卡塔尔弗吉尼亚州立大学教美术的时候不会使用裸体模特。卡塔尔弗吉尼亚州立大学的一位助理教授内森·戴维斯给我们看了一份有关一本校园收藏的美术书的新闻报道，该报道写道有人在此书中用不透光的金属胶带把含有裸体图片的部分粘了起来。这明显是一种强制执行端庄标准的努力。不过戴维斯说这样的事件也可以是正面的，因为它们刺激了辩论。

“I’m here because ideas still matter here,” Davies said. “Ideas matter so much here that people get passionate, and they argue.”

“我在这里是因为在这里思想还是很重要，”戴维斯说。“思想在这里很重要，以致于人们很容易激动、总是争论。”

Northwestern’s faculty and students face special challenges in a society without First Amendment protection for media. Students told of being harassed or intimidated when they tried to take photographs or video of scenes considered routine in the United States, such as an exterior view of a public hospital or TV station.

西北大学的教师和学生在一个没有“第一修正案”保护媒体的社会中面对很多挑战。学生们说当他们试图拍照或摄影的对象在美国只算常规作业时，在这里却会遭到侵扰或恐吓，最常见的就比如对一家公立医院或是电视台的外视图进行作业。

Mary Dedinsky, a former managing editor of the Chicago Sun-Times who directs the Northwestern journalism program here, said students hone skills by overcoming obstacles in pursuit of a story. She cited one group of students who sought to expose domestic abuse of Filipino maids. They waited several days outside a shelter that refused to let them in.

玛丽·但丁斯基是《芝加哥太阳时报》的前主编，现在她在这里的西北大学分校指导新闻报道。她说学生们在探索一个故事的过程中要克服许多困难，而正是这个过程磨炼了他们的技巧。为此她引用了一群学生为揭露卡塔尔国内虐待菲律宾女佣而努力探寻的故事。他们常常在一个拒绝他们进入的避难所外等好几天。

“We told them, ‘You’ve got to be persistent,’ ” Dedinsky said. “ ‘You can’t give up.’ ” Finally the students tried another tactic, bringing a mother with them to ask permission for entry. They got in.

“我们告诉他们‘你们必须坚持，’”但丁斯基说。“‘你们不能放弃。’”最后这些学生尝试换一种方法。他们带着一位母亲和他们一起请求进入那个避难所。他们进去了。

Dennis, the Northwestern dean, has experience in navigating Qatari sensitivities. He led a six-nation survey this year on media use in the Middle East. It was financed by the Qatar National Research Fund. Among other questions, the survey asked whether people think their country is “headed in the right direction” — a routine question in American politics. The study found optimism rising in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia and Lebanon, but declining in Saudi Arabia shortly after the death in January of King Abdullah.

西北大学分校的丹尼斯院长也对卡塔尔人的敏感有所感受。今年他在一个中东媒体上对六个国家开启了一次调查。这个调查也是由上述卡特尔国家研究基金赞助的。该调查问是否人们认为他们的国家“正往正确的方向前进”——在美国政治中这是一个很普通的问题。研究发现在埃及、突尼斯和黎巴嫩乐观情绪在上升，但是在沙特阿拉伯，因为该调查正值一月份阿卜杜勒国王过世不久，所以情绪在衰退。

There was no information on the Qatari view. Someone in the government refused to let Northwestern ask that question. Researchers acknowledged the omission in a footnote. “Who knows why they like some questions and don’t like others?” Dennis said.

没有来自卡塔尔的观点。一些现政府的人拒绝让西北大学分校问这样的问题。研究者们在该调查的脚注里承认了这个省略。“谁知道为什么他们喜欢一些问题而不喜欢另一些？”丹尼斯说。



A man prays in the mosque at the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies on the Education City campus in Doha on Nov. 5. The building, designed by Mangera Yvars Architects, was recently awarded at the World Architecture Festival. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)

十一月5日，多哈大学城的卡塔尔伊斯兰教研究系的一个清真寺里一名男子正在祈祷。这座建筑由曼格拉·尤法斯建筑工作室设计，并于最近得到“世界建筑艺术节”奖项。


1）
Ladyrantsalot
12/8/2015 4:35 AM GMT+0800
I am a faculty member of one of the participating universities, and my colleagues and I initially were dubious about this for all the reasons mentioned above and below. I am now more supportive for various reasons. The most important to me is the extent to which so many young women now have the opportunity to acquire a good, university education. Their parents would never let them go abroad to study (like their brothers), but they are happy to let them attend university near home. Change in the Middle East will only come slowly and through the actions of the people there. Perfection is the enemy of the good. Who knows, maybe this experiment will fail over the long term. But it is bringing very different people together in one place and under conditions where everyone appears to be compromising at least a bit. It seems better than leaving educational uplift to the Saudis alone.

我就是其中一个大学的教师。我的同事和我一开始也对此表示怀疑，原因都被本文描述过了。但是现在我也因为不同的原因更加支持这个大学城了。对我而言最重要的
是有如此多的年轻妇女有机会获得一次优质的大学教育。她们的父母绝不会允许她们像她们的兄弟一样出国读书，但是他们会很高兴让她们在家附近读大学。中东的
改变只会慢慢到来，而且是通过那里的人民自己的行动。如果一件事情不做到完美我们就不停下来，那么这件事就永远不会完成。谁知道呢，也许从更长远的时间
来说这次试验会失败。但是它毕竟将一群非常不同的人带到了一个地方，并且在一定的条件下每个人至少是作出了一点让步的。这总好过在教育进步方面放任沙特阿拉伯。

2）
US universities have increasingly become semi-corporate "product" purveyors led by highly paid "management" without real academic ideals. However, the majority have not (yet) outrightly prostituted themselves as have the operators who for a payoff have sold out, abetting and legitimizing morally contemptible regimes such as the one in Qatar. They have shamed themselves and the ideals they no longer represent.

美国大学正逐渐变成由薪水很高的“经理”们领导的半企业性质的“产品”承包商。毫无学术思想可言。不过大部分还是在经营者出卖自己的时候毅然决然地拒绝出卖自己。他们已经认清这些经营者帮助像卡塔尔那样卑劣的政权，同时还从道德上让这些政权合法化。他们已经为他们自己感到羞耻并不再做那些思想的代表者了。

3）
What a disgrace. This is just a money grab by a handful of US colleges or universities. What stop these rich but ultra-repressive countries from just hiring well qualified professionals to teach in their universities? Why import a US based university? My guess is to lend credibility and an open veneer to an otherwise repressive culture.

真是恬不知耻啊！这个所谓的大学城就是一撮美国大学抓钱的工具。究竟什么能阻止这些富裕但是具有极端压制性的国家不再雇佣那些优秀的教授去他们的大学教书呢？为什么要进口原本是美国的大学？我猜这只是借这些大学的信誉去公开粉饰一个国家除了镇压什么都没有的文化。