UNIVERSITY LIFE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 49, 27 February 1937, Page 10

UNIVERSITY LIFE

DUTY OF PROFESSORS

ALLOW STUDENTS TO THINK

Many matters affecting university life and administration were discussed at a conference of representatives of the universities of Australia and New Zealand held at Adelaide this month. Professor W. A. Sewell, of.the Chair of English at the Auckland University and chairman ef the Professorial' Board, returned from Sydney today by the Maunganui after attending the conference, which was financed by the Carnegie Corporation. Representatives from New Zealand and all parts of Australia attended. The conference was the first of its kind, but it is hoped that it will be held every two years or

Important matters were dealt with by Dr. Priestley, vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne, in a public address, said -Professor .Sewell. Dr. Priestley said that it was the duty of professors to teach the students to think, give them.time to think, and allow them to think. According to Dr. Priestley these three points involved the humanising of the curriculum, drastic reduction in the number of lectures, and an assured academic freedom for students arid staff.

"The thing that was forcibly expressed was 'don't let the universities become utilitarian,1" said Professor Sewell. "It was considered that the actual teaching and the examinations are not the main feature of university life. The business of the universities is to produce a 'whole man,' a phrase used by Dr. Priestley." The great advantage of residential colleges and the employment of student advisers and tutors was stressed, and many suggestions were made for courses and teaching outside the syllabus. A note of "brisk realism" was introduced into the proceedings by the discussion of the uses and abuses of appointments bctards. Mention was made of the difficulty experienced in placing graduated men on the labour market. A remarkable feature of the evidence of those associated with appointments was that in Australia business men were not asking for specialists, even for specialised work. They wanted men trained in the fundamentals of art and finance, and they would educate them to suit their own specialised needs. This applied to all callings in life. Professor Sewell said that this policy was at present being carried out to a certain extent in Australia.