The Press SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1973 No university at Albany

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33141, 3 February 1973, Page 14

The Press SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1973 No university at Albany

The year's delay in work on the new university at Albany, north of Auckland, should give the Government time to review the whole structure of tertiary education. The Minister of Education (Mr Amos) has hinted that after the review the new university will probably not be built; and that would probably be the best decision in the interests of New Zealand tertiary education. New Zealand has six universities. Two of them — Waikato and Manawatu — have room for more students without undue strain. While the small decline in the roll at Auckland university last year is not likely to be repeated, there is no suggestion yet that students will be excluded from a university because there is no room for them. If entry standards were raised a little, or if fees were raised to bring them closer to the actual cost of university education — with parallel increases in bursaries — existing universities should be able to handle all the students offering for a decade or more. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Education have indicated that technical institutes will have priority over universities in the next few years, a move which should help to restore a balance in tertiary education. The universities are already producing surplus graduates, especially in the arts; the status once associated with a university degree has begun to decline: the country undoubtedly needs more technicians, produced by technical institutes which are regarded by students as genuine alternatives to universities. The Government has promised to make it easier for students to transfer from university to a technical institute — or the other way — if they so desire. The result should be greater flexibility in the education system and in the choice of career training open to school-leavers. The review of education should not be confined to the tertiary level. Any attempt to give the technical institutes the importance they deserve will require changes in the attitudes of high schools which have regarded the universities alone as the ultimate goal for their better pupils. The institutes will need more attractive facilities, especially if they are to develop the sense of corporate life which makes universities attractive to young people. Technical institutes, especially in provincial centres, ought to assist in the Government’s plans for regional growth: to build a second university in Auckland would not help to reverse the drift of population into the top half of the North Island. If the Albany project is abandoned the money saved should go a long way towards improving technical education facilities in many parts of New Zealand.