ADMISSION TO UNIVERSITY

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28249, 10 April 1957, Page 18

ADMISSION TO UNIVERSITY

ii Decision Must Be Made 99

It was time to think seriously about the question of admission to university in New Zealand, the Rector of Canterbury University College (Dr. F. J. Llewellyn) told a meeting of the Christchurch Accountant Students Society yesterday. “I do not know what the answer is, but it is a question that is coming right down on us." he said.

A decision would have to be made whether graduates were produced in quantity, or whether the number of students be cut down so that the money saved could be used to increase facilities and bursaries for the students who remained, and so that the situation was comparable with that in Britain, he said.

Dr. Llewellyn reviewed differences between students and university systems in various countries, and then ’ spoke of “the deeper things which led to those differences.”

“In this country there are about 11.000 university students. Taking the population at 2,000,000 that means that one person in every 200 in New Zealand is a student,” said Dr. Llewellyn. “In Britain, where there are about 86.000 students and a population of 50.000.000, one person in every 600 or 700 is a student. The Canadian and American figures are nearer to ours; so are the Australian figures. High Student Population

“We, with Australia, have a relatively high student population and have taken a greater number of young persons to higher education than Britain. In Britain and Europe the attitude is different. The university is the training ground for the elite—not the elite few, but the upper crust of the intellectual strata.

“There is a reason for this. Europe must produce to live. The university is becoming a vital part of a country’s future. Without the output of the universities the chances of keeping up with the technical advances of the United States and . Russia are reduced. The governments are lavish in their assistance, and in the bursaries to those who get them.

“In New Zealand the situation is not like that. New Zealand depends on natural products. The university here is not a vital part of the government’s development policy for the country, and in consequence of that we do not get the financial support and freedom to develop courses as is the case overseas." Dr. Llewellyn said.