U.E. Standards In British Columbia

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30847, 4 September 1965, Page 17

U.E. Standards In British Columbia

“British Columbia as a province this month will raise university entrance standards considerably and the whole secondary school curriculum has been revamped,” said Professor J. C. Garrett, of the University of Canterbury, on his return from Canada. As a member of the New Zealand Universities’ Entrance Board he was particularly interested.

“The net result will be separate academic and vocational training in the interests of the four universities in the province, the taxpayers, and young people themselves,” said Professor Garrett. “Those who do not get into the universities will not be thrown to the wolves. Provision is being made for them in junior colleges and technical institutes which will have an increasingly-import-ant function.” Professor Garrett said the new requirements would be “really stiff,” but they had been generally accepted. They arose from the Chant report, made by a committee under the chairmanship of the dean of arts and sciences at the University of British Columbia. This traced both the problems of the universities and their requirements from the schools. Canadians recognised that everyone must be qualified to accept almost any job in the late twentieth century. Once qualified to enter university students there must be accepted as in New Zealand and

this strained resources. The Chant report stated flatly that by no means all were suited to university education and that many might do better under other training.

Public interest in the change was great. Professor Garrett was invited to address the Canadian College of Teachers (a professional body representing both universities and schools) on the problems of university entrance in Canada and New Zealand. He said the audience was greatly interested in certain New Zealand claims that entrance standards should be raised here.