EXCESS OF STUDENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22086, 16 April 1935, Page 10

EXCESS OF STUDENTS

UNIVERSITY PROBLEM LACK OF EQUIPMENT REPORTS ON OVERCROWDING The seriously inadequate equipment of permanent apparatus in tho chemistry department at the Auckland University College was brought under tho notice of the college council yesterday in a letter from Professor F. P. Worley, who mentioned the possible alternative of excluding 20 or 30 of the students already enrolled. Professor Worley stated that more students had been enrolled in the chemistry department than should be accepted if the lecture requisite grant was not to be exceeded. The department was faced with tho alternatives either of.excluding from 20 to 30 of tho students who had enrolled or of expending on apparatus and material an amount in excess of the grant made to it. He proposed to adopt the second alternative, but would keep expenses at the lowest possible level. He gave instances of the disabilities under which the department was working, particularly in regard to the lack of permanent apparatus. The council also had before it a letter written by tho registrar, Mr. M. R. O'Shea, to the dean of the science faculty, stating that several complaints had been received recently regarding overcrowding in the various science departments, and pointing out the necessity for drawing up a definite arrangement. Ho suggested that it might bo advisable for him to meet tho science faculty and obtain sufficient data to enable him to report in detail upon the maximum capacity of the present accommodation and in addition the extra cost entailed in the way of lecture requisites for every student accepted above any given number in any department. This would be done with a view to ascertaining the present efficient capacity of the science building.

The president of the council, Mr. K. McKenzie, said they must agree with the proposal that the professor of chemistry obtain such additional apparatus as was urgently required to cope with the additional number of students.

Mr. Grey Campbell suggested that a limit of expenditure should be fixed. Mr. S. I. Crookes said that if they admitted students to a course they must provide them with the necessary material, and a similar view was ex-X-iressed by others. It was agreed to grant Professor Worley's request, and to await a report from the registrar on the matters raised in the letter.

At a later stage the council dealt with a letter from Mr. F. W. Craddock, lecturer in dental mechanics, complaining of the increasing difficulty of arranging laboratory accommodation at the dental hospital. At his suggestion, it was agreed to require prospective students to notify their intention of studying dentistry not later than January 31, so that laboratory accommodation might bo arranged.