Branch Colleges May Ease University Pressure

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28983, 26 August 1959, Page 6

Branch Colleges May Ease University Pressure

"The Ptest" Special Service

AUCKLAND, August 25.

If the Government was willing to provide adequate funds for the proper development of branch university colleges, when it would not readily do so to increase the staff and facilities of existing university institutions, the branch colleges might well serve to reduce the pressure in the stage I classes of the parent university, and thus make it a better institution, said the Chancellor (Sir David Smith) in his address to a meeting of the Senate of the University of New Zealand in Auckland today. Sir David Smith examined the proposal and arguments against the establishment of branch university colleges, discussed the future need for a central authority on university development and surveyed the need for providing more university teachers, offering solutions to the problems.

! The establishment of the branch university colleges had not met with unanimous approval, Sir David Smith said. Among the objectors were some New Zealand graduates holding official positions in the Universities of Oxford and Manchester. The Oxford objectors said, that so far as the decision to establish the branches postponed urgent improvements in the existing universities and colleges, “it is a disaster of the first magnitude for university education.” The proposal to establish I branch colleges really arose from I i the urgent need to train graduate i teachers for the schools. Sir l | David Smith said. I After discussing the fact that | the University of Auckland had ' never wanted the establishment !of the branch college at HamilI ton, Sir David Smith asked: ■ “What provision should be made ;in the future, upon the assumpi tion that the University of New Zealand has been abolished, for resolving such a situation as arose between the views of the University of Auckland and the views of the Government? A similar situation might arise concerning the views of a regional university which controls professional schools serving the national needs —for example the special schools in medicine, dentistry, engineering, mining, and architecture. Should the final decision on a question of university development in any of these important fields lie with a regional body or rest only with a body representing the national interest? Central Body “Should, for example, the university grants committee or any central body appointing that committee, have power within a limited field, for example new developments in university education, to make decisions in the national interest which shall be • binding upon the separate univer- ■ sity institutions?” . ■ Discussing the possibility of reI lieving the pressure in stage I I classes at the parent university, Sir David Smith said teachers in ■ the branch colleges might become ! enthusiastic about the advance- ■ ment of students who qualified - for stage II and might seek to ■ develop the branch into a liberal I arts college granting an arts de- ! gree. If so, that would further I reduce the pressure on the parent - university. I Provision of the type of univer- ■ sity education that would be given in a branch college might show the way, in the long run, in which to provide for students who at present qualified to enter the university but who proved later not to be up to degree standard. “The future will show whether these branch university colleges will be a fruitful source of educa- • tional advance,” he said. 1 Extramural Students 1 Under the conditions of modem • life, even an advanced country ! stood to benefit from extramural > education and its use in higher I education was increasing not . diminishing in many countries, including the United States and ' the Soviet Union, Sir David 1 Smith said. r Victoria University was en--8 titled to the gratitude of the 8 universities for undertaking 8 extramural university education on a national scale, he said. j In addition to the provision of t university education at Ardmore t for teachers’ college students, the University of Auckland also had its Engineering School there. Sir ’ David Smith said. It would no doubt have been better if the ’ Engineering School could have b been on the main campus, but the school did well. The University ’ of Otago, with the aid of subfaculties, conducted the educa- ■ tion of sixth-year medical students I in hospitals throughout the counI try. Many experts considered I that the kind of education being I provided was better than that I which would be given within the I walls of the medical school itself. I In addition, various faculties in I each university institution carI ried out teaching and research in. I the field and often had huts or I other buildings a considerable I distance from the main campus. I None of the types of university I work mentioned compared in I complexity with the establlshI ment of a branch university colI lege at a considerable distance from the main campus. Sy David Smith continued, but wharhe had said should be sufficient to show i that at least the practice of con-' I ducting teaching and research at' p some distance from the walls of: I the parent institution was well! established and had supplied sub-1 stantial needs. More Teachers One of the main tasks of the I immediate future would be to obI tain more university teachers, said Sir David Smith. It was gen- | erally agreed that there was a shortage of university teachers throughout the English speaking world. It was caused, he thought, by the rising student rolls, by the endeavour to increase the staffstudent ratio, by the limited num- | ber in any university generation; i qualified to become university I teachers and by the attractive ’ powers of other employment. i ■ A reduction in the number ofj students entering the university would reduce the teacher problem, he said. He had not been in favour of imposing a very strict entrance standard because he thought the post-primary schools j had to minister to such a variety i of needs, both in town and counI try. that it would be difficult for I all the schools to prepare their | students for an entrance test much

higher than the present one. Also, some pupils of good intellectual quality seemed to develop a little late.

“Nevertheless, the percentage of rejections at the end of the first year in our universities continues to be high when compared with the percentages in the provisional universities of Britain,’’ he said. “I (should like to see careful consideration given to the recent proposal of the Wellington Post-primary Schools’ Council that entrance to the university should be by examination in all cases and that accrediting should apply at school certificate level. This would not necessarily involve raising the present standard, but it would apply to the standard the kind of test university students should be able to take.’’

Competition

Of the attraction of staff by other universities. Sir David Smith said the Senate had asked the Government to equate New Zealand salaries with those of Australia. He thought the best solution to staff shortages was to be found in competition. Also, “for the harmony of society,” he said there should be established, if practicable, a general correspondence between the salaries of the higher ranks of the Public Service and the ranks of university teachers. He thought that the universities should try to select students early in their careers to encourage them to think of university teaching as a life work. “We should look more than we do for assistance from women of high academic distinction.” he said.

The university should also endeavour to train its own teachers as far as it could. This might involve the setting up of some special chairs of advanced learning and research distributed among the universities but within an existing faculty. If the special chairs were required they would need to carry a special salary.