单选题 All the following statements are the argument against ESRC’ s policy except

A、 all the institutions on the blacklist are arbitrary and negative
B、 there is no hard evidence to prove that faster completion rates result from greater efficiency rather than lower standards or less ambitious doctoral topics
C、 many of the best students go quickly into jobs where they can apply their research skills, but consequently take longer to finish their theses
D、 some polytechnics are penalized by random fluctuations in student performance

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】文章第三段讲述了反对者的声音。他们认为"the blacklisting of whole institutions as arbitrary and negative"，作者并没有说这是事实，故答案为选项A。选项B、C和D均可在第三段中找到。