亞洲公共政策學院成爲熱門之選

With neat green lawns and clean white arches, the colonial-era architecture of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy reflects the calm and order typical of Singapore. The campus was once home to Raffles College, the alma mater of Mr Lee, Singapore’s founding father, who is credited with driving the efficient government and faultless public services that add to the draw of studying policy in the city-state.

修剪整齊的綠草坪、潔白的拱門，新加坡國立大學李光耀公共政策學院(Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy)的殖民時期建築反映出新加坡典型的寧靜和秩序。新加坡國立大學的前身是萊佛士學院(Raffles College)，新加坡開國之父李光耀的母校；李光耀因推動了高效率政府和完美的公共服務而備受讚譽，這給在新加坡學習公共政策增添了吸引力。

“Singapore is a wonderful public policy laboratory,” says Kishore Mahbubani, dean at the Lee Kuan Yew School. For years, growing numbers of students in the US and Europe have been opting for a Master of Public Policy (MPP) over the traditional MBA as they search for a course that trains students for government, civil society and the media.

“新加坡是一個極好的公共政策實驗室，”李光耀公共政策學院院長馬凱碩(Kishore Mahbubani)表示。多年來，越來越多的歐美學生選擇公共政策碩士(MPP)，而非傳統的MBA，因爲他們在尋找提供政府、公民社會和媒體方面培訓的課程。

As policymakers around the world look to Asia, drawn by the prospect of fast-growing markets such as China and India, many students are keen to gain experience on the continent, flocking to institutions like the Lee Kuan Yew School, the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo and the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy near New Delhi, all of which run MPP courses in English.

在全球各地的政策制定者將目光投向亞洲之際，受中國和印度等快速增長市場的前景吸引，很多學生迫切希望獲得有關亞洲的經驗。他們紛紛報考李光耀公共政策學院、東京大學(University of Tokyo)公共政策大學院(Graduate School of Public Policy)以及新德里附近的金德爾政府與公共政策學院(Jindal School of Government and Public Policy)等學校，這些學校都開設英文授課的MPP課程。

“Europe represents the past, America represents the present, Asia represents the future,” Prof Mahbubani adds. “So, if you’re a young person do you want to place bets on the past or the future?”

“歐洲代表過去，美國代表現在，亞洲代表未來，”馬凱碩教授補充稱，“因此，如果你是個年輕人，你是想押注於過去還是押注於未來？”

Asian policy schools remain fledglings when compared with their US peers. The Harvard Kennedy School of Government, in particular, was the template for the Lee Kuan Yew School when it was set up in 2004. Much like their western counterparts, MPP courses in Asia have the goal of equipping people to improve governance. Through one- or two-year programmes, students are taught basic economics, politics and quantitative skills, before taking elective courses on everything from trade to security.

與美國學校相比，亞洲的公共政策學院仍羽翼未豐。在2004年創辦時，李光耀公共政策學院特別參照的模板是哈佛大學肯尼迪政府學院(Harvard Kennedy School of Government)。與西方同類學校大體一樣，亞洲MPP課程的培養目標是讓學生畢業後能夠爲改善政府治理出力。在一兩年的課程學習中，學員會先學習基礎的經濟學和政治學知識、以及定量分析技能，然後學習從貿易到安全的各種選修課程。

The Lee Kuan Yew School, the best known option in Asia, now has three postgraduate courses for those with different professional experience. Prof Mahbubani says 60–70 per cent of those admitted are offered financial aid to ensure that students come from varied backgrounds. There is also an aim to recruit an equal number of students from Singapore, Southeast Asia, China, India and the rest of the world.

李光耀公共政策學院是亞洲最知名的公共政策學院，如今針對不同專業經歷的人士開設3種碩士課程。馬凱碩教授表示，60%至70%的被錄取者會獲得助學金，以確保學員背景的多樣性。該校錄取政策還有一個目標是，讓來自新加坡、東南亞、中國、印度和全球其他地區的學員比例相同。

The Global Public Policy Network — a partnership that includes Columbia University in New York and the London School of Economics and Political Science, as well as the Lee Kuan Yew School and the University of Tokyo — is crucial for Asian programmes eager to offer students the brand of a known western university alongside a strong insight into emerging markets.

對於希望爲學員提供知名西方大學品牌以及對新興市場深刻洞見的亞洲課程而言，全球公共政策聯盟(Global Public Policy Network)至關重要。紐約哥倫比亞大學(Columbia University)、倫敦政治經濟學院(London School of Economics and Political Science)、李光耀公共政策學院以及東京大學公共政策大學院都是該聯盟的成員。

Khasan Redjaboev, for example, grew up in Uzbekistan, where he dabbled in entrepreneurship and was an education consultant to the government, before enrolling as a double-degree student at Sciences Po in Paris and the Lee Kuan Yew School. The 26-year-old says he sees an advantage to studying in the Asian market: the opportunity to be a big fish in a small pond.

例如，哈桑•雷賈博耶夫(Khasan Redjaboev)在烏茲別克斯坦長大，他在那裏嘗試過創業，當過政府的教育顧問，後來他註冊爲巴黎政治學院(Sciences Po)和李光耀公共政策學院的雙學位學生。這名26歲的學員表示，他認爲在亞洲學習的優勢是：有機會成爲小池塘裏的一條大魚。

“Since Paris is quite big and people are quite fancy … you don’t really get to meet the top people. It is nearly impossible for a student to have a dinner one-on-one with the chief executive of a big company,” he says. “But in Singapore it is possible.”

“巴黎很大，那裏的人很優秀……你其實沒有機會見到最優秀的人。一名學生單獨與一家大公司的首席執行官吃飯幾乎是不可能的，”他表示，“但這在新加坡是有可能的。”

As well as offering exchange programmes and joint degrees, the network’s schools collaborate on cross-border events and research. For Hideaki Shiroyama, dean at the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo, the system is a way in which newer institutions can compete. “The Kennedy School is a longstanding model but actually what we did is to set up an alternative network model,” he says.

除了提供交換生項目和聯合學位，全球公共政策聯盟的成員學校還會合作開展跨境活動和研究。對於東京大學公共政策大學院院長城山英明(Hideaki Shiroyama)而言，通過這種聯盟，較新興的學校可以參與競爭。他表示：“肯尼迪學院是一個能夠長久存續的模式，但實際上我們所做的是創建了一個另類聯盟模式。”

Yet, just as public policy programmes struggle to compete with established MBA schools — which host slick recruitment drives and career counselling — newer policy schools in Asia face criticism from education analysts, who point out that those investing in postgraduate education expect a great job on graduation. “Even if you have a global applicant pool, your placement is local,” says Karan Khemka, a partner at Parthenon-EY, the education consultancy, explaining that many international students eager to study in China and India are reluctant to work in the emerging markets in the long term.

然而，公共政策項目很難與老牌MBA商學院競爭（後者會開展嫺熟的招聘活動，還提供就業諮詢），亞洲較新興的公共政策學院還受到教育分析人士的批評，他們指出，花大價錢念碩士項目的學生是希望在畢業後找到一份非常好的工作。教育諮詢機構巴特農-安永(Parthenon-EY)合夥人克倫•克赫姆克(Karan Khemka)表示：“即便申請者來自全球各地，但就業面向的是本土市場。”他解釋稱，希望在中國和印度學習的很多留學生不願長期在新興市場工作。

Yet, for those looking beyond their pay cheque, schools in Asia promise a different perspective on policy. In India, academics at the Jindal School argue that professors with experience in emerging markets offer a more useful perspective on challenges such as poverty and agriculture, which academics in Singapore and Boston may struggle with. “If you look at the Lee Kuan Yew School you would think public policy is an extension of the state — here we are democracy driven,” says vice dean, Shiv Visvanathan. “It gets you a different kind of student — not a student who is searching for a World Bank job but someone who is looking for the meaning of India.”

然而，對於那些不關注薪資的人而言，亞洲學校能夠帶來不同的政策視角。在印度，金德爾政府與公共政策學院的學者認爲，具備新興市場經驗的教授會在貧困和農業等挑戰方面提供更有用的視角，而這可能是新加坡和波士頓的學者難以提供的。“李光耀學院的情況會讓你會認爲，公共政策是政府的延伸——而在這裏，我們是受民主推動的，”金德爾政府與公共政策學院副院長希沃•維斯沃納滕(Shiv Visvanathan)表示，“你會招到不同類型的學生，這種學生不是在物色世界銀行(World Bank)的工作，而是在找尋印度的意義。”

Just four years old, the Jindal School, named after the Indian business family, faces starkly different challenges to its peers in Tokyo and Singapore. The fledgling institution is not part of the global network and with just 25 graduate students on the postgraduate course every year, it draws from a different pool. Of the 20 per cent of overseas students every year, the majority come from Africa. The school’s Rs600,000 ($9,050) fees for the residential two-year course, though piffling compared with the $45,697 tuition fee for just a year at Harvard, is still a stretch for many of its students. Mr Sarkar says three individuals a year have a full scholarship with others receiving funding of 20–50 per cent.

僅僅創建4年的金德爾政府與公共政策學院面臨着與東京和新加坡的公共政策學院截然不同的挑戰。該學院是以印度一個企業家族的名字命名的。這所年輕的學院並非全球公共政策聯盟的成員，每年的碩士課程僅有25名學員，其生源有所不同。海外留學生佔該學院學員的20%，其中大多數來自非洲。該學院的全日制兩年住校課程學費爲60萬印度盧比（合9050美元），與哈佛大學一年就45697美元的學費相比簡直微不足道，但對該學院很多學生而言仍然太貴。瑟克爾(Sarkar)表示，每年有3人獲得全額獎學金，還有一些學生會獲得20%至50%的資助。

Meanwhile, it is still difficult to draw top talent from India, where the most accomplished students are encouraged to study engineering and then pursue an MBA. Those that do choose a degree in public policy after studying maths and science often struggle with qualitative courses.

與此同時，這所學校仍然很難吸引到印度最優秀的人才前來就讀。在印度，最優秀的學生會被鼓勵學習工程，而後攻讀MBA。那些在學習數學和自然科學後選擇攻讀公共政策學位的學生通常會在定性分析類課程方面遇到困難。

“Students don’t have the analytical capacity because that’s not how they were trained,” Prof Sarkar explains. “How do you go about imparting that? How do you make students think and think logically?”

“學生不具備分析能力，因爲他們沒有接受過這樣的訓練，”瑟克爾教授解釋稱，“你怎麼才能教會他們這個呢？你怎麼才讓學生思考問題、並且是有邏輯地思考問題呢？”

Just as those in India see poverty and chaos as a major draw for young people interested in solving policy issues, the Japanese school sees itself as a developed world environment from which to explore Asia. “Going to China might be dynamic but there is some difficulty in living in Beijing with the culture and freedom and accessibility,” explains Prof Shiroyama, who estimates that 50–60 per cent of the school’s international students come from Asia. “Japan can be like a bridge between emerging Asia and developed countries.”

在印度，一些人認爲貧困和混亂是年輕人對解決政策問題感興趣的主要原因，而東京大學公共政策大學院把自己視爲一個可以讓學生探究亞洲的發達國家環境。“中國可能活力十足，但住在北京，會遇到一些有關文化、自由和參與能力的問題，”城山英明解釋道，“日本可以成爲連接亞洲新興市場與發達國家的橋樑。”他估計，該學院50%至60%的國際學員來自亞洲。

While education analysts and academics look at the curriculum, students often have more practical reasons for enrolling in Asian policy schools. The most obvious is the lower cost. Tuition is an annual Y535,800 ($4,428) for the international MPP in Tokyo, on top of an admissions fee of Y282,000, while the Lee Kuan Yew School’s international MPP students pay S$34,500 ($24,585) once state subsidies are accounted for.

教育分析人士和學者會考慮課程設置，而學生報考亞洲政策學院通常有着更實際的理由。最明顯的原因是學費較低。東京大學國際MPP每年學費爲53.58萬日元(合4428美元)，另外還有28.2萬日元的錄取費。如果考慮到有政府補貼的話，李光耀公共政策學院的國際MPP學員的學費是3.45萬新元(合24585美元)。

For Mr Redjaboev, the decision to take a joint degree in Paris and Singapore was easy. Harvard and Princeton have a cachet but the US government is not considered friendly to his own administration, or to those his friends would like to join elsewhere in central Asia and Russia. If the goal is a job in the civil service, he says, opting for a US school could be counterproductive.

對於雷賈博耶夫而言，做出在巴黎和新加坡攻讀雙學位的決定很容易。哈佛大學和普林斯頓大學(Princeton)的聲望很高，但美國政府被公認對烏茲別克斯坦政府、以及他的朋友們希望求職的中亞其他政府和俄羅斯政府並不友好。他表示，如果求學的目的是畢業後做公務員，那麼選擇美國的學校可能會適得其反。