TRAINED LEADERS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 108, 8 May 1943, Page 6

TRAINED LEADERS

ROLE OF UNIVERSITY GRADUATION CEREMONY There was a large attendance at the graduation ceremony of the Auckland University College in the Town Hall last evening. Following on the usual processions of graduands and members of the Court of Convocation, the members cf the college council ar.d staff entered the hall to a march played on the organ by Professor H. Hollinrake. The Mayor, Mr. Allum, represented the citizens. Reference was made by the president of the college, Mr. W. H. Cocker, to the action of the University Senate in granting recognition for the full course in mechanical engineering. The council, he said, felt that this was an important step forward. The Senate had also, at the council's suggestion, introduced aeronautical engineering as part of the degree course in mechanical engineering. The army educational scheme, in which the college was collaborating, was also commended by the speaker. The >rcle of the universities and their graduates in post-war reconstruction was referred to<;-by the guest speaker, Major Merrill Moore, of the Medical Corps, United States Army. In New Zealand, he said, trained leaders would be needed for the work of rebuilding, whether their fields were engineering, science, or the arts, although in this country reconstruction would be more in the nature of continuing progress than in lands which had suffered more from the war. Improved international relationships and the development of civil aviation, said the speaker, were two enormous secondary benefits from the war which would be of special interest to New Zealand. Major Moore predicted that New Zealand in course of time would produce great works in all fields of art. Speaking of his own profession, he expressed a hope that Auckland, with its large population, would become an important centre of medical teaching and research in which the hospital and the university would co-operate. On behalf of the University Chancellor, the president conferred degrees, and, in a short address, the chairman of the Professorial Board, Professor F. P. Worley, urged the need for more monetary support for the college from the city and province. A plea was made by the president of the students' association, Miss Dorothea Morrell, for the establishment of students' hostels.