LIFE IN A GREAT UNIVERSITY

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22796, 23 August 1939, Page 3

LIFE IN A GREAT UNIVERSITY

THE COLLEGES OF CAMBRIDGE

ADDRESS GIVEN BY MR L. H. G. GREENWOOD

Various aspects of life in Cambridge University were discussed by Mr L. H. G. Green Fellow of Emmanuel College, the speaker at'the weekly luncheon of the Christchurch Rotary Club yesterday. Mr Greenwood, who received Ijis early education in Christchurch, said that most visitors, particularly Americans, after being shown the colleges, asked to see “the university.” Membership of any one of the colleges, which were scattered round the town, implied membership of the university. •Co-operation existed among the colleges in the matter of tuition, but each was a separate entity. There were rooms for undergraduates and senior members, with libraries, chapels, and. “combination” rooms. The average roll of each college was 250. His college was usually the nucleus of a student’s loyalty. The .university spirit was mainly dominant in athletics. The study of one broad subject, such as languages, at a time, said Mr Greenwood, distinguished Cambridge, and largely Oxford, from other universities. ’ The life of men from all over the world in the colleges together offset what drawbacks there might be in specialisation. In all, there were about 5000 undergraduates, and between 700 and 800 senior men at Cambridge. The undergraduates were much less alike than they were in New Zealand, with class distinctions much more marked. In the time they lived together they would learn far more from each other about essential things than they could from their professors. “I do not want it supposed, as it is generally supposed in England, that the men are wealthy,” continued Mr Greenwood. About 40 per cent, of the students could pay little, if anything, towards their education. Many were helped by bursaries and scholarships. “The gilded youth” were not entirely absent, and visitors seeing a few sons of the wealthy amusing themselves might get a wrong impression. Plain living, hard work, and a really good time were available for all members of the university, concluded Mr Greenwood.