THE UNIVERSITY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 946, 13 October 1910, Page 9

THE UNIVERSITY.

ADMINISTRATION CRITICISED. VIEWS 01? LOCAL ■ PROFESSORS. That university administration and education in Now Zealand are unsound is the burden of a petition signed'by thirteen professors a«d educationists which has been presented to Parliament by Mr. A. L. Herdman. Amongst the signatories are Professors T. H. Laby, H. B. Kirk, T; H. Easterfield, and E. W. von Zedlitz. Petitioners, pray for an inquiry on the ground that the present constitution of the university is.unsound, that the nitlhods of administration of the university and colleges are inefficient, mid that sound learning is not being promoted in tho way most effective for Hie .development of the national life and industries of the Dominion, and for thorough professional training in medicine, education, law, and applied science. Criticism of the present system is offered undor s several heads. It is contended that" too much.'of the instruction' at, Victoria College and (he iuckland University Colloge (770 students) is giVen in the evening. A point is wade of tho fact that there are ■'■ thirteen different bodies—senate, professorial boards, councils, and ■ courts of convocation—with statutory powers in. university nailers. Exclusive, of members of the courts of convocation there are 143 members of governing bodies. This number, it is claimed, is excessive, and detrimental to efficiency. The senate (a lay- body of 26 members, six. of whom are professors) frames and controls the curricula and syllabuses, technical work which the constitution of the senate makes it unfit to perform, and which in other'universities is. a function of professors. This unusual distribution of powers has led- to serious lack of progress .in university: methods and ideals. As : indicating a ■ defective system it. is pointed out that a large 'number... of -young New- Zeahnders spend their years as undergraduates abroad. In ,1909 forty-eight' New Zealand«rs passed various medical .examinations at Edinburgh alone, and, in 1908 only 81 students, were enrolled: at tho New Zealand School (Dunedin).. The system of external examinations is condemned as costly and inefficient. The income per'head of ■. population, for ..■university, purposes is shown to be lower:-.. in New Zealand than in other States: vith which it is compared. , Further, in \ New Zealand'the income is spread-over four separate colleges the. New Zealand University,, and . is therefore not .much more than half as effective as if applied to'a centralised university. Attention is also drawn to the marked difference :■{&: the expenditure , in the North.and South Islands. In 1908 there were 720.students in the South Island, and the expenditure was ,£32,000.. In the North Island there were' 770 students, but the expenditure , was only. £17,000..: The library facilities are said: to be inadequate. If .there were no overlapping in the college libraries .they would forni collectively only-the nucleus of a ■ university library., - The annual grant for purchase of new ■ broks, binding, etc, is said to be' quite inadequate, and it is complained that periodical literature has been unduly negletted.