THE MULTIPLICATION OF UNIVERSITIES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXI, Issue 15210, 22 January 1910, Page 8

THE MULTIPLICATION OF UNIVERSITIES.

Tar. report of tho Chancellor to tho Senate of the University of New Zealand draws attention to the suggestion that each of the four colleges in tho dominion should be granted the power to confer degrees. At the present time the University is an examining body, with which the colleges at Dunedin, Christchurch, AVellington and Auckland are affiliated. Tho students are educated and controlled by the authorities of the individual colleges, while the University acts in an advisory capacity and undertakes the examination of tho students and grants degrees. Tho supporters of the separation movement suggest that tho examining body Ls out of touch with the various teaching bodies, and that the colleges havo not sufficient freedom in tho arrangement of their studies, owing to the fact that the examination papers are tho 6amo all over New Zealand. It is easy to understand that tho professors in tho various centres may occasionally find themselves hampered under the

existing system, but at the same time tho obvious advantages of unity seem to outweigh a hundredfold the problematical gains of independence. Students at present secure degrees issued by the “University of New Zealand,” which possess a value which certainly would not attach to the awards of tho “ University ol Canterbury ” or the “University of Auckland.” Tho dominion does not loom very large in the eyes of the. world, but most people at. least know of its existence, and tho degrees conferred by its University have a recognised value in every part of the educated world. A merely provincial degree would impress people outside New Zealand about as much as do tho degrees of certain American universities, where the coveted bit of vellum cun be scoured bv a. few months study end thp payment of a certain number of dollars. Sir Robert Stout raised an important point bearing upon the subject when he mentioned that the whole trend of university reform. in Great Britain is in the direction of uniformity of standard. A New Zealand degree has a certain definite value, but there is no guarantee that an Otago degree would not be more easily acquired than a Wellington degree or a Canterbury degree than an Auckland degree. In fact, tho proposal for separation would seem to offer wide opportunities for the development of the worst kind of provincialism without any compensating advantage. There is no evidence to show that purely local management of the university training would lead to increased efficiency. Healthy rivalry exists already between tho affiliated colleges, but every member of a college is also a member of the University of New Zealand, and the provincialism of the college man is broadened of necessity by the wider outlook of the graduate or undergraduate of tho University. • Tho time will probably come when New Zealand will offer scope for the. work of four universities, but the day is not yet. In the meantimo the University authorities may well consider some of the suggestions made for reform along lines that do not mean any revolutionary change in the present system.