UNIVERSITY FAILURE “No One Major Change Will Solve Problem”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31767, 26 August 1968, Page 17

UNIVERSITY FAILURE “No One Major Change Will Solve Problem”

(tv PMrtSSOt P. J. LAWRENCE. education department. University of Canterbury, from an addr*es to thi Fabian Soetotp et th* university)

There are good reasons for being concerned about the failure rate in New Zealand universities: the expectation of possible failure by the student is not a good attitude to encourage; university education is expensive and resources (both in highly-qualified staff and in facilities) are limited; the method of entrance by accrediting is often questioned; and an increase in the number of university-trained people in the community is necessary for national development.

Questions are being asked about this socalled “wastage** in North America, Australia, and Britain as well as in New Zealand —questions which are both educational and political.

Uoiversitiat are concerned about the problem, and politicians must justify the considerable expenditure . required to build, staff, • and maintain the modern university. Unfortunately, there is a widespread notion that, because the problem is simple to see, it will also be simple to solve. Some contend that a sharp raising of entrance standards, or the abolition of accrediting, or changes in university examinations will reduce failure. But it can be stated categorically, as a result of studies in many universities, that no one major change of this type will, by itself, solve the problem.

Entrance to the university is a case in point, for it has often bean pointed out that the failure rate in British universities is much lower than that in New Zealand because of the much more stringent selection procedures. This is true, but there are implications in the British approach which must be weighed up: a severe narrowing, within the community, of opportunities to benefit from some university experience; one of the lowest national ratios of number of university students to population; and the provision ot a wide range of alternative (and costly) tertiary Institutions.

This situation has developed out of the traditional British elitist attitude to university education—one which would not be accepted easily in New Zealand society, and also one which caused the Robbins Committee much concern and

led it to recommend a considerable widening of opportunities for university study in Britain.

Similar Rates

Upper-sixth form work in. Britain for the advanced level General Certificate of Education Is, In many respects, comparable with our stage I university level. It is therefore all the more Interesting to note that the failure rates for the two levels are very similar. Because it has been firmly established that pre-univer-sity entrance examinations or selection criteria have only a moderate predictive value for actual university performance, it is safe to say that many young people in Britain, who could have successful university careers, are prevented from doing so by the rigours of the elitist selection procedure. This is the price which has to be paid for reducing failure to a minimum by means of a drastic raising of the level of entrance—and it has to be drastic or the gain in reduction in failure rate* is of no great consequence. In a University of Melbourne study of the records of 3000 first-year students over a three-year intake period, it has been shown that, to achieve a 10 per cent increase in the pass rate (04 to 74 per cent) by selection alone, it would have been necessary to reject 30 per cent of those who were actually admitted. Yet, of this group, 43 per cent did in fact pass the year as a whole This bears out Parkyn’s argument that failure at university appears to be related only moderately to the standard of entrance. Causes Of Failure Preoccupation with comparisons between New Zealand and British universities has obscured the fact that the failure rate in this country

is similar to that reported in Canadian, South African, and Australian universities. Unfortunately, camparisons are often made between the percentage of "units” failed in New Zealand and the percentage who fail the “year as a whole” in other countries. When adjustment* are made so that criteria used are comparable, the figures for Canterbury and, for example, British Columbia are almost identical. But what Is of more Importance than national comparisons is the problem of reduction in the failure fate. Numerous overseas investigations (confirmed in New Zealand studies) indicate that failure is the result of the operation of a number of different factors in each individual case. One of the most significant of these factors is part-time study which, in the presence of other detrimental factors, may increase the probability of failure. The solution Is not to exclude part-time students (who do not differ appreciably from full-time student* in potential for university study) but to make it possible for more of them to attend a* full-time students.

Another factor, difficult to predict or measure, is motivation and attitude to study. This is difficult to control and is not consistently related to intelligence, prior achievement, or any particular student group, but it may be related to the quality of the conditions under which students Study at university. Large classes, little tutorial contact, too few books, and perhaps even the lack of a community pride in the university and in university achievement may all contribute to detrimental student attitudes. Need Recognised Again, the unavoidable difficulties of transition into a university atmosphere, where self discipline in study, independence in thinking, and responsibility for bis own behaviour are expected of the student, may create the unsettling conditions which contribute to failure. The University of Canterbury is very much concerned with the achievements of its students, is constantly attempting to improve conditions, and is aware of the need to gain more precise information about its own functioning as an educational institution. Student health and counselling services, improved library facilities, pressure for a lower student-staff ratio, a humane and careful operation of exclusion policies—these are all steps towards increasing student achievement

But many steps have yet to be taken and the University of Canterbury has set up the machinery to study such topics as examinations, entrance and exclusion policies.

organisation of the university year, and student failure itself. No spectacular solutions to the many problems are likely, but at least there is movement in the right direction.