The world’s top self-made billionaires do not just have more money than everyone else; they often have less top-level education than the managers and accountants running their companies.

世界上那些白手起家的顶级亿万富翁不只是比所有其他人更有钱，他们接受的顶级教育往往也少于那些帮他们打理公司的经理人和会计师。

Research shows that about a quarter of the world’s wealthiest entrepreneurs dropped out of university or high school before going on to join the financial elite¹, a greater proportion than those who achieved masters degrees.

研究表明，全世界最富有的创业者中约有四分之一的人，在加入到富豪行列之前都曾从大学或高中辍学，这一比例高于拿到硕士学位的富豪所占的比例。

It shows dropout² billionaires are more prevalent than just household names such as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates or Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg — something legions of MBA students may ponder as they rack up large debts in pursuit of a ticket to future riches.

这表明，曾经辍学的亿万富翁不只是如微软共同创始人比尔•盖茨(Bill Gates)和Facebook共同创始人马克•扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)等那些家喻户晓的名字——这也是大批MBA学生在为求得加入未来富豪行列的通行证而背上高额学生贷款时，或许会琢磨的事。

Although half of the self-made billionaires tracked by Verve Search — a UK-based internet marketing³ agency — gained a bachelors degree or equivalent, only 20 per cent completed a masters, while roughly 5 per cent went on to obtain a doctorate⁴.

位于英国的互联网市场调查机构Verve Search的追踪调查显示，尽管白手起家的亿万富豪中有半数拥有学士学位或同等经历，但是只有20%的人拿到了硕士学位，而获得博士学位约有5%。

All of them gained their place in the financial elite through their own endeavours rather than inherited wealth.

所有这些人都是通过个人努力、而非继承财富，跻身于富豪之列。

The data cross-references the annual Forbes rich list on the wealthiest 100 self-made billionaires in every year since 1996, comparing each person’s educational progress through information gained from public sources.

这些数据参照了自1996年以来福布斯(Forbes)历年百位白手起家富豪榜，并比照了从公开信息渠道获得的他们每个人的教育经历。

Concern about the effect of rising tuition fees has led some to question the value of university education for those wanting to start a business at a young age.

对于学费上涨影响的担忧，导致一些人开始质疑大学教育对那些想要在年轻时开始创业的人的意义。

Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal, has created a fellowship that encourages students to skip university to free them up to take risks early. His foundation promises grants of “$100,000 to young people who want to build new things instead of sitting in a classroom”.

Paypal共同创始人、亿万身家的风险投资人彼得•蒂尔(Peter Thiel)创建了一项奖学金，鼓励学生跳过大学教育，支持他们早些放开手脚去冒险。他的基金会承诺，资助“那些想要创造新事物、而非坐在教室里学习的年轻人10万美元”。

Dale Stephenson, a US recipient⁵ of the fellowship who left college aged 19, told the FT at the time of his award that “there’s a value in university. It teaches you how to follow directions and meet deadlines and work in groups. But it shouldn’t be the only way we learn.”

戴尔•斯蒂芬森(Dale Stephenson)是该奖学金的美国获得者，19岁离开大学的他在领奖时向英国《金融时报》表示：“大学有其价值所在。它教会你如何听从指示、遵守最后期限以及与团队合作。但是大学不应该是我们学东西的唯一方式。”

But Kathy Harvey, the associate dean of MBA and executive degrees at Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford⁶, said a university education was invaluable⁷ in most cases.

但是，牛津大学(Oxford University)赛德商学院(Saïd Business School)主管MBA和EMBA项目的副院长凯茜•哈维(Kathy Harvey)表示，在多数情况下，大学教育都是无价之宝。

“We shouldn’t be surprised that some of the world’s billionaires dropped out of school,” she said. “Mark Zuckerberg dropped out because he had Facebook as an idea. Not to follow that idea at that time would have been folly⁸.

“我们不应该对世界上有些亿万富翁曾经辍学感到惊讶，”她表示，“马克•扎克伯格辍学，是因为他有了创建Facebook的想法。当时如果不去追求那个想法是愚蠢的。”

“But it took a combination of great judgment⁹ and luck to reach that point. The majority of people still benefit from getting the general education that gives them confidence and helps create a network.”

“但是要实现那样的成功，需要有极佳的判断力，外加极好的运气。大多数人仍然可以受益于普通教育，教育赋予他们自信，并帮助他们建立人脉。”

She added: “Education isn’t just about making money, it’s about being resilient in life. You would expect that people who have taken time to think and learn about things are also able to apply themselves in the same way to their ambitions.”

她还说：“教育不只是教人如何赚钱，它教人如何更好地适应生活。那些花费了时间去思考和学习的人，料想也能够以同样的方式去努力实现自己的抱负。”