Topic 9 My View on Amalgamation of Universities
Recently there have been many reports of amalgamation of universities. It turns a new page of advanced education in China, and will have far-reaching effects in the forthcoming years.

The biggest benefit, in my eyes, is that the merging often results in a comprehensive university with increased overall strength. To take part in international competitions, we need more universities of this kind. In addition, the integration of staff members will significantly improve the quality of both teaching and research. Finally, reorganization will optimize the disposition of limited resources, which is the symbol of successful educational reform.

Apart from the benefits mentioned above, we should also face several unavoidable challenges. In the first place, the integration process itself will be difficult even painful—many people may need to sacrifice their own interests for the whole university. In the second place, the management of such big universities is not easy at all. What’s the most important, the most successful university is not necessarily the largest one or the one with most students—the key lies in the unique spirit of the university. Only when we deal with these problems successfully can we benefit the most from university amalgamation.

参考翻译：

我看高校合并

最近出现了许多大学合并的报道。这在中国的高等教育史上翻开了崭新的一页，并将对今后产生深远影响。

在我看来，高校合并的最大好处在于合并之后的高校总体实力增强，成为综合性大学。为了参与国际竞争，我们需要更多的此类大学。此外，工作人员的结合将大大提高教学和科研质量。最后，重组将使得有限的资料得到优化组合，这是教育改革成功的标志。

除了上述优点以外，我们还要面对一些不可避免的挑战。首先，一体化进程本身将困难重重，甚至是充满痛苦——为了整所大学，很多人可能需要牺牲自身的利益。其次，管理这么大型的大学绝非易事。最重要的是，最成功的大学并不一定最大的，也不一定是在校学生数量最多的，关键在于该大学的独特精神。只有当我们成功地处理了这些问题，我们才能从大学合并中获益更多。