SPECIAL UNIVERSITY SCHOOLS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18765, 19 January 1923, Page 4

SPECIAL UNIVERSITY SCHOOLS.

The University Senate is not unaccustomed to tho submission of proposals which conflict with tho principle that

duplication is to be avoided in the establishment of special schools of instruction nt the various university colleges. The Auckland University College Council is not disposed to accept the conclusion that because there is a School of Engineerinir at C'hristchurch there, is no

room for one at Auckland also. The Government having declined to appoint a Commission to look into the matter, the Auckland College authorities recently secured a report on the subject from a number ot Auckland engineers. This report is favourable, as would be expected, to the claims which the Auckland University Council advances, and was used yesterday to strengthen those claims as set before the Senate in a proposal that this body should give recognition to a School of Engineering at Auckland College. In support of the proposal a good deal was made of the provision already existing at Auckland for training students up to a certain stage in engineering. Such an aspect of the question

as the increased demand for annual expenditure which would result from according to the engineering department of the Auckland School of Mines the status that is desired, was brushed aside quite airily by the advocates of the proposal. But cost is surely a consideration that enters very importantly into the question, as would bo shown convincingly, it may bo conjectured, if recognition were once granted to a School of Engineering at Auckland. As the Director of Education observed, “Auckland would not be satisfied with less equipment than Canterbury.” It is impossible, indeed, to believe that the existence of a recognised Engineering School at Auckland would not be accompanied by considerable demands for funds in order that it might not be inferior to any similar school in the country. The present, however, i.s emphatically not a time at which the University Senate should enter into fresh commitments that are avoidable in respect of the avenues of expenditure on higher education. There is to be considered, moreover, the possible effect of the existence of an Engineering School at Auckland upon the school already flourishing at Canterbury College, and this could not be entirely favourable. The question of the necessity for a School of Engineering at Auckland has to bo regarded from a dominion rather than a provincial standpoint. It is affirmed by Professor Scott that the Engineering School at Christchurch is already turning out more graduates than this country can absorb. If this be so, then clearly from the national viewpoint the creation of another such school at Auckland is unnecessary. Mr Fowlds laid stress upon tho argument that the Auckland University College Council is not asking for the establishment of a new school but for the recognition of teaching that is already provided. But it is not apparent that this would make any difference in the ultimate effect of the Auckland proposal were it acceded to by the Senate. If the position is illogical, as suggested, the Senate is not responsible for that. But it might bo accused of acting illogically if, in the case of the present application from Auckland, it acted at variance with precedent. For if it be allowed that the claim of Auckland to a School of Engineering is a valid one, what reasonable ground would exist for contending that because there is a Medical School in Otago there is no room for one in Auckland also ? It is unfortunate if hardship be imposed upon Auckland students in the existing circumstances, but hardship of the kind implied has a pretty wide application so far as students throughout the dominion are concerned, and really cannot be eliminated if an expensive and unnecessary overlapping, not conducive to efficiency, is to be avoided in the distribution of special schools among the university colleges of the country. In its rejection of the Auckland proposal the Senate has acted with the discretion which the circumstances seem to warrant.,