University Research Work Defended

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32031, 4 July 1969, Page 18

University Research Work Defended

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, July 3.

Critics of the universities saw them as mere service stations to the community, turning out exactly the right number of graduates at exactly the right time and confining their research to those problems of immediate concern to society, the Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University, Dr D. B. C. Taylor, said to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce today.

If universities did degenerate into this kind of institution they would then be a poor shadow of what universities should be, and the quality of their products, both in terms of graduates and research, would be in danger

of sinking to a very low ebb, he said. “The teaching of existing knowledge plays a very large part of our effdrts in the universities, although ultimately we are concerned with the task of mining away at the vast body of unknown knowledge. This is the unique function of the universities in the educational system,” said Dr Taylor. “It is this activity which gives our teaching its characteristic form. We strive to the best of our ability to pass on to our students the attitude of the research worker towards knowledge. Not only should it be learned thoroughly, it should also be subject to scrutiny.” The mere mopping, up of knowledge had no place in a university, Dr Taylor said.