University Scholarships.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 17997, 14 February 1924, Page 10

University Scholarships.

The decision of the University Senate that, if the University's finances will permit it, the tenure of University Junior Scholarships shall be extended from three years to four years is wise and humane. Of the holders of these scholarships only a few can expect to win Senior Scholarships at the end of the last undergraduate year, ana many of them must complete their Univer

sity course, as matters now stand, with.

out assistance. tt is a pity, however, that the Senate did not consider

whether the value of the scholarships might not be increased. In olden times the value of the Junior Scholarship, for the holdor who was obliged to live, away from home in order to prosecute his studies, waa £SO a year, and this also wa 3 the value of the Senior Scholarship. To-day the junior scholar receives, in addition, his tuition fees,

and the senior scholar receives £GO If the old scale was only adequate in its day, the present scale ig certainly not at all adequate to the scholar's

needs; and the "University ought to be able to do as well for its scholars to-

day as it used to do. Tho necessary funds could easily be provided if the

number of scholarships awarded each year were reduced, but nobody, except, apparently, the Education Department, would like to see any such reduction. On this point the Director of Education, Mr J, Caugluey, made an observa.

tion which, coming from him, is exceedingly odd. "The Department,"

he said, in arguing against any extension of the benefits of the scholarship system, "had had great misgivings "about allowing such a large number " of people in different walks of life

" to take up these courses almost for " the asking." One might suppose from this that the Department holds

very strongly, and that its practice at'

tests its conviction, that economy and efficiency in tho subsidising of studies, at schools or at University colleges, should be most carefully safeguarded—that the means of study should not be given almost for the asking, and that whatever money is available for laying out in scholarships and bursaries should be invested where it will give the best return. Yet it is a notorious fact that

the Department throws jiway thousands of pounds every year in providing " free places" at secondary schools for

young people who do not and cannot derive any benefit whatever from their brief attendance at these schools. " Free places" certainly are given by tho Department "almost for the ask- '' ing,'' to the detriment of the schools, and, in many cases, to the detriment of tho young people themselves. The amount of money thus ill-spent would "go a long way towards making adequate provision for those who really can prosecute their studies at secondary schools and University colleges with benefit to themselves and to their country.