THE UNIVERSITY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 124, 19 February 1919, Page 8

THE UNIVERSITY

; ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SENATE

CHANCELLOR'S .ADDRESS

EXTERNAL EXAMINATIONS

■•■'■' (Special Correspondent.) The annual meeting i of the Senate of the University'of New Zealand was opened in Christchurch yesterday. In annual: address,. the Chancellor (Sir ■Robert Stout) referred to the question of external" examination's. "The Board of Studies," .said the Chancellor, "without being asked by the Senate to consider the question, has again passed resolutions dealing with our external examination. I do not know whether its memhad'before them the final report of ■ ■ the Royal Commission on University Education in Wales, which was presented to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, last year; but judging by the resolutions passed I should not think so. This final report contains a very clear . and definite exposition ,of ..the value of an external examiner to such an institution as the University of Wales. The Commission unanimously came to the conclusion that tho external examiner should be.continued..and it summarised •its;.conclusions in the ■ recommendations as follows:— ( .The. university should not concern itself with the examination of under- ' graduates except for admission and for the initial degree. Tho constituent colleges should in-general make their own arrangements for interme diate examinations on their own. re- < ' eponsibility. In the final examinations for the initial degree, -both .pass and honours, the university ; ; should ,be represented on each body ■ .....of internal examiners by a singlo . ■ -external examiner who should have I : a. veto on the passing of any candi- • ; date. All grades of teaohera should take some part in the examination •of the students- whom they have. ; taught.' .■'-,. , ■■ ■• "Before dealing with the various pro: posals of the Board of Studies, it may . be necessary ■to again state why there should bo_an' external examiner in tho University*of New Zealand. Our university is a State institution dependent upon the State for its finance, and uuder State control, the Governor-General in Council having the right to veto any -.. statutes.passed' by the Senate. The university is in no sense a private institution; it is part of the- State educatb jal machinery, and if it is the function."of the State to provide education. for its . citizens, it is surely, the functon rf.»ll:e State to.see' that-that education is effi- ■-...■ cient. It,is no mistrust of tin , to require that the State should be informed of the university's efficiency by others than the teachers. This is recognised in other departments of the State scheme, suc r ' as the primary' ; schools .and' secondary. ; schools that are under State control. . In ■ both • those ; classes .. of schools the I Government, inspector. examines ,tho x schools and examines the children to see, : first, whether the education received by the children is efficient, and. second, whether., it, is properly given. The State has interfered from time to time with university institutions in the United Kingdom Vhiqh cannot be termed Government institutions.'' Many university colleges were 6tarted by private individuals giving of their unvate wealth , for educational purposes. -It is true that ..some' universities have received charters ■from "the State. Some have received charters from the Pope, and some have been recognised' by the State in various . .ways; but they are not in the full sense of the term State ■ institutions sucji as the New. Zealand , University. Noverchsless, they, have been controlled by tho • Privy Council and by. royal commiseions. It was once said of the republics of South America that they were demooracioe tempered, by revolutions; and it may be said of .the "British universities that they .aro self-governing, institutions . tempered by royal commissions and by regulations issued by the Privy Council "■ The State has a right, it will be admitted, to.see that its university is efficiently conducted,' and' that the results , of theteaching are. such as to satisfy the . 'State that the best available education is being given to its students. Now how can the State satisfy itself of the effi- : cie.ncy of university education? The in- ■... spectorate has not been considered suit- .■■.■ able, in dealing with, university institutions.. The "system that; is adopted in superintending -primary and secondary instruction is .' not confined to an iii-.--.■•epectprate;' it practically controls details of -jeducationtil work, and has an , inspectorate in-addition. If an external examiner is''dispensed with what control .can the State have over the university, ■ and .what control or what knowledge can the State'have of university work? In fact, tho,only, menns of obtaining any knowledge of. University work must b<, .through the external examiner, or through; royal ooninissions set up from lime., to /-time,,, or: by, some systein ,; of inspectorate. .. : • "It' will therefore be seen that tho external examiner really ' performs the function of ua; information'bureau for State purposes'. There is no other means of determining what is being done in our university colleges/and if it has been ;■ round necessary in Wales ■to keep an • v external examiner it is more necessary • here, and for these reasons. The only ■university institution in New Zealand is the university of New Zealand. If , our students aro (discontented with the teaching in our university affiliated institutions, there i 3 no other university to which , they can go. 'It'is quite dif, lerent in tne: Uilited, Kingdom. There ore numerous universities there. There are about thirty pkces it. the United , Kingdom tthere there, are university teaching institutions, . arid as there is in a,'sense competition for students amongst those institutions, they are very careful to uphold their reputation for efficiency, iWe know that nfty or sixty years ago the degrees of several, of the university were easily ■ obtained and were not considered of much vdlue.

The Board's Proposals. ' "The Board of Studies considered no less.thaiCnve proposals differing in many respect? from ono another. The scheme it has placed first is that in each subject a board of examiners may be :ippointed consisting of responsible teachers from the four colleges, with whom may be associated (if the Board of Studies on tho recommendation of tho teachers of tho subject thinks fit) an assessor who may or may jiot bo a teacher nt nn affiliated college. This schome was approved of by eleven votes to , seven. It contains no provision for nn external examiner, unless, indeed, it? bo said that the three examiners are external to tho fourth college Ina sense l,hat is tone. It is not, therefore, the teachers who are to examine their own students; it is to be examination by.a board. I understood in the past, that the mjun argument against external examination was that the teacher was the only proper person to examino the-students. This scheme does not make such provision; and it doe 9 not provide for an impartial, outside, or external examiner. Now the Welsh recommendation as that the external examiner shall have power to veto tho passing of an student. That is not the'proposal, of our Board of Studies. There may be an assessor appointed, but he is not to havo ave'toing power, and ho is only to be appoint, ed if the teachers request it and the. Board of Studies approve. The second suggestion is that an assessor may bs appointed from New Zealand, or Australia, that the papers aro to be examined first by the assessor and afterwards by the teacher, and in case of a conflict between tho teacher and the assessor, the' dou'btfni papars to to be referred' to the other professors in that subject. This was passed by eleven votes to seven. This the power of veto in Ihe nrofe;sors. not in the external examiner. Tho third suggestion was similar to the first. The fourth suggestion i<! that there i> to be no assessor at all. This was passed by ten votes to eight. The fifth proposal before tho board was iicpntived by eleven ■votes to seven. Tt was that the external examiner should have the 'power to veto. If any of these suggestions of the Board cf Studies is accepted, ij: means that there;is to;be no external examiner to tfeAl -witH 'j);h"e ijrantlnE^of degree'? , by our university; 'and I doiibt very much if the Statewoui'd be wise to iigree to any such proposal. The fact that the Royal Commission did not see its way to grant to the ■university, colleges of Wales the power

to examine their own students ought to bo of some advantage to us in considering the question.

A State Question, "In considering these proposal of the Board of Studies it is necessary to emphasise the point that the Senate cannot delegate the 'power of appointing examiners to the professorial boards, or to a board of professors. The Senate has the power to appoint and remove al» examiners. It may by resolution delegate that power to the Chancellor or Vice-Chancel-lor. It lias also power to delegate to> the Board of Studies, the power of appointing examiners; either jointly or for any specified time, and either subject to or without restrictions; 'but that power of delegation to the board could be 'withdrawn, and, at ail events, would end when the time specified expired. Tho Board of Studies therefore asks the Senate to agiree io what is really iiii amendment of the University Act, and such a matter would have to be referred to tho Legislature. The University .Act specifically provides in Section 3 of the Statute that our university is established not for the purpose x>f teaching, but for the pur. pose of encouraging, in the manner thereafter provided, tho pursuit of a.liberal education, and to ascertain by means of examination tho persons who have acquired proficiency in literature, etc. If the control of the examinations, which means the appointment of examiners from time to time, is to be wlten away from the. Senate, its main function ceases. The Senate ought to take into consideration the fact that these proposnsl of the Board of Studies wore only curried'by narrow majorities. Surely, if there is to be an amendment made in'the Statute or in tho university regulations, some more unanimity should be 'required amongst tho:;e who aro the experts on the Board of Studies. It might also be wrll'to consider whether this question of external examination is not one which should be settled by our statesmen f.nrt not by a few of our teacher?. The State has to consider what is best for our students, and what will best encourage and popularise tho higher education and iriye the people confidence in ouv university institutions.

Government of the University, "There was a suggestion that each of our university colleges should be created ft separate university, and the Board of Studies has reserved that subject for consideration at its next meeting. A similar proposal was .not accepted by the Commission of AVales, nor," indeed, by a majority of the Welsh university councils. Leadiug educationists in Britain apparently see that if higher education is to be popular, there Must be' more democratic, representation on- its managing bodies than at present exists, and that one way to popularise education is to give wido powers to local bodies. There is always a struggle in ■ English communities between what is termed the centripatal and the centrifugal political forces. English people do not seem to take kindly to federal institutions, " If there had been a love of federalism throughout the United Kingdom jj-e might have seen a Parliament different from the Parliament which now exists in the United Kingdom, and perhaps the Irish Home Rule question would have been solved on federal lines. The.English iveople, trained as they have been in what is termed unitary government both in the State and the State Church, and having no practical experience of federalism, always struggle for centralisation. In New Zealand wa have often followed this \example of the English people. We destroyed our. federal system in 1875, and we have not yet .got .'a system of local government or of local administration that is pleasing to the people, or is effective; and whenever'we discover faults in our State administration we are apt to call in ths aid of oiir central Government, as if we believed it could never commit blunders. If, however, education is to he popularised, we , ' must have what I suggested in my report of last , year, .namely, more decentralisation than we now have whilst at the same ' time we retain ono university for New Zealand so that there may be an encouragement of a national life. If we keep our .central university, it must have the power of supervision of teaching colleges, on the lines of the powers given to the Council of the University of Wales.. ' "

A-"Popular" University. "It is. apparent from the evidence given before the Royal Commission that there is in Wales a. strong popular demand for higher education. The Welsh people are willing ■to make monetary sacrifices to popularise university training.' There is tiie same dematid in other parts of the United Kingdom. In, the United States of America some States have enacted that an annual tax shall be levied for university purposes. We have not yet developed any very strong enthusiasm for higher education, though in some parts of tho Dominions much has been done by the public to assist in the development of university colleges. I- believe if we have not developed so much enthusiasm for higher education as other countries, it is because our people have not yet realised the fundamental part that the higher education must play if we aro to progress in efficiency and in civilisation. To keep the popular interest and popular feeling aroused the proposal in Wales is to democratise the management of the universities. We may have to follow this example. I once thought that we might have popular lectures or speeches on university subjects 'once a year, at least , in connection with out university colleges, and that on the only day in the year that the university came nrominently in touch with the public—tiie time when it publicly granted degrees—might have been a suitable occasion for bringing before the public some phases of university work. Unfortunately'such occasions proved, to be unsuitable. They became the scenes of frivolity, discourJnd buffoonery, and instead of helping to create a popular feeling for the higher education it had the opposite effect. It seems to me that now tire only thing left would be to try the Welsh system of popularising- .the university .management. This Is a matter for the Minister of Education, the Government, and Parliament to consider."

University Lectures. "Perhaps, the most striking thing in after-war reconstruction," said the Chancellor, "is the universal favour in which educational schemes are received by the people of the United Kingdom. It is recognised that if there is to be progress in the Empire more attention must be paid to education. It lias actually been proposed that a rate on propertys'in the nature of a county rate should be ini posed in parts of England where there are fow opportunities for university education, in order that further university teaching institutions should be founded. Tliero have also been established not only I new chairs in older universities, but j greater teaching facilities in the shapo of, lectures, and university extension institutions Have been inaugurated. It is to be regretted that the custom that prevailed in one or two of our university colleges in the early days has been discontinued. In Canterbury lectures used to be delivered by Hie professor of English on Saturdays which , were largely attended by students and teachers. "We hear much of tho liours of labour being shortened. Could not arrangements be made for our university professors to «ive lectures on what may bo termed 'labour holidays,' say, on Saturday afternoons? These lectures could bo open to' the public. There is much need of various questions being publicly discussed, such as economics and civics, as well as health and the general principles of science. There have now been established classes for economics nt all the university colleges; but what is needed is not'merely tuition for undergraduates, but popular lectures for those who may not have become undergraduates and who are not desiring a university education. The effort that has been made- by tho Government in founding university classes -for soldiers should show us what can be done in this direction. I do not know what the teaching hours of our professors are, but I feel sure they would be only too willing, each and every one of them, to give, says, two hours on a Saturday afternoon for public lectures. I would suggest that the subjects might be English, history, economics, principles of science, perhaps biology or chemistry. There might also bo practical lectures on public health, etc. It is not the function of this university to provide teaching, but the univer- , sity should encourage such lectures by | providing that those who attended should, after examination, bo entitled to a certificate or diploma. The Senate could also 'recommend to the teaching institutions the desirability of beginning this kind of university extension. "Our great war of : the past four years has given us many surprises but perhaps

nothing has been so wonderful ns the organisation of ordinary education institutions on the battlefields. This has been carried on there and in England. Nothing like this hns ever happened before in any war. In order that many of our New Zealand'soldiers should get the benefit of university terras and obtain a status in our university on their roturn to New Zealand it is necessary that they should pass the matriculation or entrance ex-amination-to our university. An application was made to the university office for a matriculation examination to be held in England. The correspondence regard ing this application will be laid before th? Senate. The suggestion was made that .Mr. Joynt; our Home agent. Professor Stewart, and Professor Adams, two of our professors who are both in England, should, with the assistance of other competent educationists, hold a matriculation examination. I consented to this being done, statins, however, that such nation must, lie ratified by the Senate. I understand that the Home universities will give certain facilities for the students acquiring their training, and the status they attain in the Home universities will m> doubt be accepted in our university. This is a matter for the consideration of the Senate.

A Great International University. "A striking proposal to found a great' international university in Plymouth, England, has been made by the eminent educationists, Dr. Eendel Harris, Lord Bryce, and Professor Gilbert Murray. Papers regarding the proposal will be laid before you. The proposal is to founo a great ediidlitioiml institution "to celebrate on the one hand the close of the war and on the other the reconciliation of Great Britain and the United States. , The institution is to be called the 'Mayflower' University, and is to keep in prominence our English language and literature and to provide for research by postgraduate students. It is. a noble ideal, and if it can in any way aid in uniting together for justice and peace the English-speak-ing peoples of the , world its foundation ought to be promoted. I commend it to the consideration of our people who desire a real peace in the world." '

Speech by the Minister. The Hon. J. A. Hanan said that the Chancellor in his address had dealt with several questions" of great importance, including that of the reform of the government of • higher education. He hoped tho Senate would consider this matter vwy carefully. Reform should come.from within, and not bo imposed from without. The government ■of highor education' should be on broader and more representative lines than it was at present.' At present those in charge of secondary education wero dominated by the coilrso of study laid down by the University, ivhose examinations dominated and almost controlled tho courses of secondary institutions. They paid groat attention to educating the minds of their I .students, but physical education Ms practically ignored. The recent epidemic had shown the folly of not giving more attention to physical training. Health education should come first. Under the present system, if courses of study were laid down for students in physiology, first aid, hygienics, and other similar.subjects, they asked what use they were, .is they were not recognised for their examinations.

Professor T. A'.. Hunter said that the country must bo prepared to make, sacrifices, if the University was to extend its work. Tt was a mutter of finance. Removed that a committee be asked to report on the finances necessary to carry on tho University and affiliated institutions. This was agreed to.