AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES

Evening Star, Issue 22629, 22 April 1937, Page 1

AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES

LACK OF SUPPORT DEPLORED In his address at the matriculation ceremony at Sydney University recently, the vice-chancellor (Dr R. S. Wallace) deplored the lack of training facilities and the lack of public support given to the university. For that reason, he said, he could wish there were fewer matriculants. “ People do not yet realise that, ,11 we are not to lag behind as a nation, we must spend a_ great deal more on university education than at present,’ said Dr Wallace. “ The facilities available are not quite as conducive to learning as we would like them to be. There is not very much elbow room for you in the lecture rooms.” Such a state of affairs, _Dr Wallace continued, would seem to indicate that the people and Parliament of this State had not realised what the university was. and what its requirements were. Evidently, the increasing number of men demanding university training had not made any impression on the general public, although _ a veritable social revolution was taking place. There had been an unprecedented demand of late for university education. . , , , , ... The proportion of students to the population of New South Wales was surprisingly high, Dr Wallace pointed out. There were 3,200 university students in a population of 2,660,000. Although this might seem exceptional, in other countries the proportion had even been as high as one in 450. _ in America, where different conditions prevailed, it was about one in 125. “ Our university has done wonders in the past,” concluded Dr Wallace, “hut it has a great deal more to accomplish. The university is first a seat of learning. It is primarily an association of scholars, whose ideal is the advancement of knowledge.