中国组织了一个亚洲大学联盟同西方教育机构展开竞争。该联盟将共享资源并增进学生和教师交流。
The new organization is called the Asian University Alliance (AUA). It was launched in late April at Tsinghua University in Beijing. The Chinese university was elected as chair of the group that includes a total of 15 universities from 14 countries and areas.
这家新组织被称之为亚洲大学联盟（简称AUA）。该联盟于4月下旬在北京的清华大学成立。该组织囊括了来自14个国家和地区的15所大学，清华大学当选为主席单位。
A goal of increasing ‘Asian wisdom'
提升“亚洲智慧”的目标
China's Vice Premier Liu Yandong spoke at opening ceremonies at of the AUA on Saturday in Beijing. She said the new organization was important to China.
中国副总理刘延东周六在北京举行的亚洲大学开幕式上致辞。她说这家新组织对中国很重要。
Liu said the educational alliance will provide "Asian wisdom to resolve regional and global problems. She added that the group will combine "outstanding global talents with an international perspective and to serve regional development."
刘延东表示，这家教育联盟“将为解决地区和全球性问题提供亚洲智慧。”她补充说，该组织将会培养出“具有国际视野并服务区域发展的全球杰出人才。”
Other universities included in the alliance are Peking University, the University of Tokyo, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the National University of Singapore, and Seoul National University in South Korea.
该联盟包括北京大学、东京大学、香港科技大学、新加坡国立大学以及韩国国立首尔大学。
The Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, King Saudi University in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates University, Malaysia's University of Malaya and the University of Indonesia are also in the group.
印度理工学院孟买分校、沙特国王大学、阿联酋大学、马来西亚的马来亚大学、印尼大学也位居其列。
Others members of the alliance are the University of Yangon in Myanmar, the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka, Chulalongkorn University of Thailand, and Nazarbayev University of Kazakhstan.
其它成员还包括缅甸的仰光大学、斯里兰卡的科伦坡大学、泰国的朱拉隆功大学以及哈萨克斯坦的纳扎尔巴耶夫大学。
People who attended the first board meeting of the AUA confirmed that Tsinghua University has offered to fund the organization with $1.5 million dollars. Members currently pay a fee of $5,000.
参加亚洲大学联盟首次理事会会议的人员确认清华大学为该组织提供了150万美元资金。成员目前需缴纳5000美元的费用。
Rankings and research seen as very important
排名和研究被视为非常重要
The goal of the group is to help Asian schools rise in the world rankings. The top universities in the world are mainly in western developed nations like the United States and Britain.
该组织的目标是帮助亚洲学校提高世界排名。世界顶尖大学主要位于美国和英国等西方发达国家。
High rankings are important to attract research money from private business and international organizations. Rankings also help in attracting the best teachers and students from around the world.
高排名对吸引私企和国际组织的研究资金来说非常重要。排名也有助于吸引世界各地的优秀教师和学生。
Tan Eng Chye is Deputy President and Provost of the National University of Singapore. He said, "Ranking is invariably based more on research because, if you look at educational outcomes, it is harder to gauge."
新加坡国立大学副校长兼教务长陈永财(Tan Eng Chye)表示，“大学排名一贯是更多地基于研究，因为如果要看教育成果，那就更难衡量了。”
He also said research spending is important. "And if you pool in a lot of money into research, then, I think, you will go up quite quickly (in the rankings)."
他还表示，研究支出非常重要。“如果在研究上投入很多资金，排名就能迅速上升。”
Tan said that governments should play an important part in funding research. Only five percent of the research has an immediate application, he said. So industry often does not want to support the other 95 percent that does not lead to new products immediately.
陈永财表示，政府在资助研究方面应该发挥重要作用。他说，只有5%的研究立即投入应用，因此行业经常不愿意支持其它95%无法立即产生新产品的研究。
The desire to pool research and develop a greater exchange of students and teachers caused several Asian universities to join the AUA.
集中研究资源和加大师生交流的意愿促使数家亚洲的大学加入了亚洲大学联盟。
"This alliance will help us refocus on Asian universities in a lot of areas like student mobility, faculty exchange, and joint research," said Prasanna M. Mujumdar, director of IIT, Bombay.
印度理工大学孟买分校校长普拉萨那·穆俊达（Prasanna M. Mujumdar）表示，“亚洲大学联盟将有助于我们在学生流动、教师交流和共同研究等诸多领域重新将注意力投向亚洲的大学。”
China could gain from reducing its dependence on western institutions for high technology and it is looking towards Asian universities.
中国可能通过减少对西方研究机构在高科技上的依赖而受益，它开始转向亚洲的大学。
Some observers compare the move to China's creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2014. The bank has increased China's leadership position in Asia and expanded its international influence.
一些观察人士将此举同中国2014年创建亚洲基础设施投资银行相提并论。该银行提升了中国在亚洲的领导地位并扩大了其国际影响力。
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