CONGRESS OF EMPIRE UNIVERSITIES.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20330, 1 September 1931, Page 7

CONGRESS OF EMPIRE UNIVERSITIES.

ENTRANCE; COOTITTONS, v REFORM SUGGESTED. > ' f 9 ~ tr 1^ (raps ovk m mtuuuvcinnaxO * - f ' One of of• the Empire TJ«4» .. > V versifies Congress in "Edinburgh, mm • /), presided , over ~by t Professor T.. A* <•„» Hunter, Viee-Chanedlor of the Unlvar*,,;, "f sity 'oi , New Zealand. The 'WbjfMt? ufdef > diAOttssitf ir ; Admission to FniTersit&s' l in^L\ l -i; Effects." • , ' " *./' VjV ■ Professor P. J3. of Birmingham, who opened^the - «&»• v cussion, sftid it, was subject^iuH^of. difficulties' and intimately connected * with other thorny questions. manent solution of the'^ntiiSce"'' 4 JtfK./;zri quiraments problems WA* likelyJmtil t!i« % whole system of school &jad -tuiiyemiiy • 3 '' sJ education was basfeg tion of ' the respe&trve' f ift'• schools and nniyersities; and intellectual training priate to each. A, simple... f l 7 ideal solution might then he possibly.' one ..not involving either: doulination' riC '• ; 'v school studies by university '.require-" I -.. ments or a standardised examination of ' ■ ' an- external, character, .though. stIS- f ' hardly more than within distant viear of the time when snoh a wlution imglit ' S ieem practicable, they were well -oir tSe - V way towards it. After a period, '!® , - J rapid , development in secondary eauea- \T tion, they were entering a' period -^f-' .. 4 l relative stability. The conditions pi '' ' admission "to nniversitW should - the following "effects/' among otheryt '». ~ They should ensure that aiL new eaitrants were sufQcientlpr mature fojc, the> kind of instruction \the ' univer^itieb 1 ought to provide; have had a.broa4-gon-4 eral education; have reaQhed> or four subjects, a standard of attain- ' ' '' ment adequate as a basis for the farther study of those subjects at & university 1 level. They should make it as'easy as , V, possible for the schools to combine pee*, paration for the university with the/' , provision of a' suitable' education i Jtor,. ' that great of their pupils' Who, had no indention of university. The conditions,of admisgion at prat- -- ent in force had become' antiquated owing to the development of posfcmatxiculation work in the school*. They.-weipt some way towards ensuring a broad general education; but they were far from fulfilling the requirements .specified above, and they helped to cau»e or*to

perpetuate anomalies and weaknesses la their educational system. - \ i Eeform which . was urgently needed" might well follow, in general, thelines ' suggested in the Report ou' Eatrsßfie Tests and Initial Degrees," via.y.shat the • universities should require:— (a): Evidence of a safcisfactoiy education up to the age of sixtfeetf. --j. (b) The passing of a .tost taken at the age of seventeen or over, based on a modification of the present higher school certificate examination, and in- V eluding as ite one obligatory element a test in the use of English. ■.■■■ V,. (e) A certificate from the school attended by the pupil giving guidance as to the pupil's powers and interests.; Sir Michael Sadler, .Oxford UniverKity, submitted that it was.not tlrt only function of .a 1 university to provide higher education.' 'The advancement of (earning and research was •at t .least as | Important. & function. - As the functions [of a university were «o -complex: "and _ ! were so indeterminate, andras the-func-tions-of a school were-still not 'I fuHy . worked out,- the point of "contasfc be- " tween the sc&ojsr and tKe - 'university 1 must be complex,. and it w®uls be j a -.''j false scent, to follecw ifthey ;toa£- > now =to - ( j«-' t * t v * ! Principal •HughVS^rorfc£ ! College, and Sir : Charles -.- r Grant Bobertson, Vice-Chfuteellor,> I ofv i Birmingham University, alw* took in ib* dleeussiosL I; mm