NEW ZEALAND UNIVERSITY DEGREES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18159, 2 February 1921, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND UNIVERSITY DEGREES.

TO THE EDITOB.

Sib, — May I,try to help towards answers to spine of the questions raised in the letter of the Rev. W. Saunders? First lot toe compare the conditions of matriculation in New Zealand with those in Scotland. In Scottish secondary schools two grades of leaving certificates are awarded by the: Scottish Education Department. In each a pupil passes in a given subject u he reaches a certain standard in a written examination conducted by tee department and if the report of his teacher of that subject is satisfactory. , A pupil who has gained the lower certificate may after two years' further study, be entered as a candidate for the higher certificate. About 85 per cent, of the students who enter the Scottish Universities havp gained the higher leaving certificate. For - foreigners or, others who have not done so,' a joint matriculation or preliminary examination is conducted by the four universities, and in the regulations governing this examination it is laid down that the standard shall not be less than that of the higher leaving certificate. In mathematics, the syllabus of work for tho lower leaving certificate is identical with that for the matriculation examination of the University of New Zealand, and the syllabus for the higher leaving certificate with tbat_ for the pass B.Aj of New Zealand. It is not so easy to make a comparison in other subjects, but it may be stated that in English, the scheme of Work for the higher leaving certificate includes English literature and prescribed bopks from standard authors in addition to work of a general character, such as is outlined in the scheme for the New Zealand matriculation examination in English. In languages other than English, the leaving certificate examination consists of two papers, one; containing translation into, and the othdr translation from, English, and the candidate must reach the pass level in both. In the case of a modem language, he must, in, addition, pass an oral test. In a science, the leaving certificate examination includes both a written and" a practical test. In the New Zealand matriculation one written paper is get in each foreign language and two in epch science. It must, however, be stated teat the University of New Zealand reqvtufes a pass in five subjects, and that the Scottish Universities are satisfied with a pa»B in four, though the leaving certificates of the great majority of the students include at' least five subjects. Many pupils remain on at school for a year after gaining the higher leaving certificate to prepare for the entrance bursary examination. Each of the fouif, universities conducts its own bursary examination and the regulations differ slightly in details, but it would probably be correct to fcay that the average standard is substantially that of the New Zealand entrance scholarship papers. Tie general regulations governing degrees in the Scottish Universities are contained in ordinances approved by his Majesty-in-Oouhcil, and modifications can only he made by promoting new ordinances. These have to ije before the Privy Council for a stated period, and axe approved! provided that no objection has been offered to them by any university, other than the promoting university*! during that period. _ This procedure has in a comparative uniformity of the for degrees, and the establishment of the leaving certificate by the Scottish Education Department some 30 years ago,’ and the consequent development of sedohdary schools, have been, followed by a similar uniformity in the standard of the Scottish degrees. Hence, if I try to compare! degrees of the Universities of New Zealand; and Glasgow I may enable readers to fornt a rough idea of how the New Zealand degnbe compares with the Scottish. Without going into a detailed comparison of the curricula for the Arts degrees (without honours) it may be said that the Glasgow > curriculum includes one more subject

than the New Zealand, and that in Glasgow one subject at least must be taken at an advanced grade, which requites a year s stuay subsequent to the pass grade, whilst in New Zealand all the subjects may be taJien at the pass grade. The Now Zealand pass grade in mathematics is equivalent to tne Scottish matriculation; the Glasgow pass grade includes elementary calculus ana cnalytical geometry. The standard! in the advanced grades in mathematics m New Zealand and Glasgow are approximately equal, but the Home student reaches the standard in one year after the pass grade. In Glasgow two years are necessary for a student who has passed the advanced grade in mat nematics, to reach the honours standard; one year is necessary here. The New Zealand student is examined for honours m matnematics, pure and applied; the Glasgow student in mathematics and natural philoeopny, which includes applied mathematics and e«perimental and mathematical physics. The scope of the Glasgow examination is very much wider, covering higher branches of the subject not contained in the New Zealand presciption of work, and in addition, every candidate is required to give evidence of independent reading by professing some branch of the subject not dealt with in tee lectures. I should say, then, that in mathematics, in the pass and honours grades the standard of the Arts degree of Glasgow is very much higher than that of New Zealand. and that in the advanced grades, the standards are about equal. Coming to other subjects, in the syllabus of work for the pass degree in Latin and in Greek, in Glasgow five books are prescribed in each subject, in New Zealand two; the examination in the former univerversity consists of four papers and in the latter of two. Similarly the Glasgow examinations at the advanced and honours stages cover a much wider field than those of New Zealand. In the classes of French and German in Glasgow University the work is conducted in the foreign language and oral tests from parts of the degree examination at all stages. At the pass stage ten books are prescribed! as against three in New Zealand, and at the other stages, the examination for the Glasgow degree demands in the same way greater preparation. I do not propose to enter into further details. Enough has been said to show that tho standard of the New Zealand Arts degree generally is distinctly lower than that of Glasgow, and after a survey of the regulations and examination paper for de•grees in science, I am convinced that there is a similar inequality in standard. An important factor affecting tee standing of a degree is the reputation of the university. A. university is an institution whose aim is the extension and, dissemination of knowledge. Knowledge, sought not for the sake of some price to be obtained lor it, but knowledge for its own sake, is what a university must seek to produce. A university -teacher who fails to embody this ideal in his life and work falls short of his vocation, and a university graduate who has caught no glimpse of it has missed the highest that the university can bestow. On the number of its members who try to realise this ideal and on the closeness of their realisation depend the reputation of the university. A technical school is a school where a practical profession is taught, but a university should be more than a collection of technical schools, and a university degree should be more than a professional qualification. It cannot be maintained that all medical degrees that entitle their holdeg to practise in the same area have tee same standing; that varies as the renown of the medical school, and that again depends on the learning and reputation of present and past professors. Simpson’s discovery of the ancesthetioil effects of chloroform gave the Edinburgh Medical School a world-wide renown, and the dlegree a high standing. The same holds good in other faculties. The . Glasgow Arts degree of 35 years ago had a unique standing since its fortunate recipients jhad sat at the feet of Kelvin, Jebb, Caird, Bradley, and Ramsay. The reputation of a university affects also the value of the research and honorary degrees which it bestows, into which no question of examination standard enters. The reputation of the University of New Zealand! lies largely in the hands of the professors in the affiliated colleges and the councils of the colleges, who are responsible for the appointments to the chairs can exercise an important influence on the standing of the degrees. If such inducements are offered as will attract men of recognised scholarship, and if the conditions of work are such that each professor can devote a reasonable part of his time to research or original work, the reputation of the university will be enhanced and the standing of its dlegrees improved. The effect of the external system of examination on the standard of a degree is to depress it. An examiner of experience who has to test the work of candidates whom he has not taught knows that the only fair way to fix his pass mark is according to the attainments of the candidates in the examination. He may call it 40 per cent, or 50 per cent., or anything else he chooses, and he adjusts his scale of marking accordingly. The truth of this is admitted in the examination for entrance scholarships in the University of New Zealand, where credit is awarded to all candidates who obtain. two-thirds or more of the average marks of the 15 highest candidates. If that were a pass examination in which the pass mark was to be 40 and all who gained credit were to pass, the examiner would simply alter the mark of the lowest successful candidate to 40, and alter all tee others in tee same ratio. The average attainment of the candidates in on examination set by an external examiner whose ideas of tho relative importance of various parts of the work may not coincide with, those of the teacher, will certainly be lower than that in an examination in the preparation of which the teacher has had a share, 'and so the pass standard is lowered. The popular impression seems to be that a professor requires an external examiner to keep him np to tee mark, and that the duty of the latter, in cases where he is associated with the former in degree examining, is to withstand attempts to lower the standard and pass all the students.' The reverse is the case, as I have found from years of experience. The professor is inclined to be severe on students who have not grasped what he has taken pains to explain, and the influence of the examiner is more frequently applied to secure a lowering than a raising of the standard. ,

In admitting the professors of the affiliated colleges to a share in the preparation of degree examination papers the University of New Zealand is following in the footsteps of the University ,of London, on which it was modelled. By an Act of 1898 the latter was reorganised and a teaching university and a largo proportion of the examining for degrees is done by the teaching staff. In the Scottish universities for the past ten years the examining for degrees in any de-< partment has been performed by an external examiner, the professor and those assistants who are responsible for the teaching, and during that period the standard of the examinations has uniformly risen. The change recently authorised by the Senate of the University of New Zealand will, I feel sure, result in a similar rise of the standard. The abolition of the purely external system will remove a constant temptation to the professors to teach for the examination, and so fall short of the ideal that all nniversiy teachers should aim at; it will improve their status in the estimation of the staffs of colleges beyond the dominion; and so it will tend to establish the reputation of the University and incraese the standing of its degrees.—l am. etc,, , _ e Robt. J. T. Bell.