EDUCATION REPORT

Evening Star, Issue 20591, 17 September 1930, Page 2

EDUCATION REPORT

UNIVERSITY COUNCIL’S DELIBERATIONS

SPECIAL COMMITTEE'S REPORT At yesterday afternoon’s meeting of the University Council the Special Committee sot up to consider the report of the Parliamentary Recess Education Committee on educational reorganisation in New Zealand reported having considered the recomniendations, and submitted the following report regarding them:— (a) The committee is of opinion that the abolition of the University entrance scholarship award by competitive examination would be contrary to the best interests of national education, but that consideration might bo given to the desirability (1) of setting aside a certain proportion of scholarships for pupils of country schools; (2) of fixhig an income' limit for the parents of scholarship holders, or of varying the yaluo of the scholarship according to the financial needs of the successful candidates. (b) In view of the recent reorganisation of the New Zealand University ns a federal university of four constituent colleges as_ recommended by the Rcichel Commission, 1925, the committee is utterly opposed to the disestablishment of the New Zealand University and the formation of two universities, one for the North and one for the South Island, as (proposed by the Parliamentary Committee. Furthermore, this committee is of opinion thta while the presence of a university college in each of the four large, towns loads to healthy rivalry, the establishment of two universities —one for the South and one for the North—would in various ways have an undesirable effect upon the educational system of the dominion.

.(c) In the opinion of this committee the complex financial considerations involved in the abolition of the New Zealand University examinations have not bceon fully realised by the Recess Committee, and such abolition will not bring the results as regards savings anticipated by that committee. (d) The committee is strongly opposed to any suggestion that provincial endowments should bo interfered with. , (e) The committee is entirely opposed to the suggestion that the salaries of the teaching staffs shall be paid by the Government direct.

(f) With regard to the suggestion that the training colleges in the four centres be handed oyer to the control of the university college authorities, the committee is unable to make any pronouncement in the absence of a definite scheme showing clearly the financial and general arrangements proP (g> With regard to the proposal for the transference of non-matriculated students from the university colleges to the technical colleges,' the committee would he apposed to the complete exclusion of non-matriculated students from university classes. (h) In the committee’s opinion the time is not yet ripe for effecting a closer union between the technical colleges and the university colleges as suggested hy the Recess- Committee. a) Without expressing any opinion on the general question of accrediting, the committee wishes to point out to the council that under the regulations of the General Medical Council no accrediting certificate could' be accepted as an equivalent of the'entrance examinations for the faculties of medicine and dentistry, and that a similar requirement iat present applies with regard to the law course. (j) With regard to the bursary system, that 1 the Professorial Board bo asked to report. (k) That while welcoming this measure of .improvement in the position of the professorial staff- as regards superannuation, the committee recommends the council to continue its efforts in conference with the other colleges of securing more favourable treatment, or, failing this,, that the professors should be allowed-the option of effecting ah endowment insurance policy to the satisfaction 'of their governing bodies. ' The report was adopted. PROFESSORIAL BOARD'S REPORT The Professorial Board reported on the criticism of the Auckland Professorial Board on a portion of the- report of the Parliamentary Recess Education Committee dealing with the proposed abolition' of the university entrance scholarships. The Auckland Board had resolved that in advocating the abolition of the university entrance scholarships the committee had come to a decision unjustified by ovidonc© or by existing conditions. The board reported that it recognised that in the matter of university entrance scholarships pupils of country secondary schools were at a considerable disadvantage compared with those of town schools. It strongly disapproved, however, of the particular method which the committee proposed to adopt for the purpose of removing this- disability. While admitting, further, that there might have been, through no fault of the university, undue dominance of < secondary education by the requirements of university entrance scholarships, the board contended that it did not necessarily follow that the scholarship. system was at fault. Preparation for university entrance scholarships undoubtedly stimulated to a marked degree the study of subjects which were pre-rc-quisites for university courses. Discontinuance of the scholarship system would remove the element of competitive examination which was an important inducement to individual effort on the part of-the student and would remove also the valuable criticism of examiners who were experts in their respective subjects. _ It would in consequence, in the opinion of the board, react unfavourably on tho standard of teaching in the schools and result in less satisfactory preparation of some of tho best scholars entering the university. Instead of receiving through tho scholarship system a small group of picked scholars tho university would be supplied with a number of students whoso training had been less thorough and less extensive in those subjects essential for university work. Under tho proposed maintenance bursary system the university would have no voice in the selection of tho bursars nor any power in directing the lines which should be followed in the later and more important years of their preunivorsity study. It was significant that in Edinburgh University it had recently been found that a nomination bursary system had failed to select the right type of student, and its replacement by an extension of the existing system of competitive examination had been recommended by a statutory commission. „ , ' The proposed system of award ot maintenance bursaries would apparently vest in the Education Department —centralised in Wellington—the completo right to say whether or not individual students should be granted such bursaries. It was impossible to imagine how, under a system of recommendation by individual inspectors, the bursaries could bo awarded in an impartial and democratic _ maimer on a national basis. No special evidence on

university entrance scholarships was apparently called by the committee; nor, it seemed, were other methods considered of regulating the _ distribution of the existing scholarships, such, for example, as their division between town and country pupils, or tho regulation of tho amounts of the scholarships according to the financial resources of the recipients. < The board was emphatically of opinion that, before this drastic change suggested by tho committee he made tho subject of legislation, full evidence should he called from al! bodies concerned. Tho report was noted.