NOT REALISED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26177, 13 June 1946, Page 6

NOT REALISED

PLACE OF RESEARCH FUNCTIONS OF UNIVERSITY SOLUTION IN NEW ZEALAND “ In spite of some progress in recent years towards the realisation of the true functions of a university, even yet those functions are not appreciated in their proper perspective. The people of New Zealand still demand a university education which can be turned into cash as soon as possible, and the effect of that attitude is a * third-rate university,' ” said Dr C. M. Focken in an address last night to a meeting of the Otago University Graduates’ Association. Dr Focken was reviewing for the purposes of a discussion the policy plan drafted for the University of New Zealand in the next five years by the chancellor of the University, Mr Justice Smith, and the members of the meeting, over which Miss L. Morton presided, developed his comments and asked a number of questions. After presenting the 12 clauses of the chancellor’s memorandum, Dr Focken said that the main subject of Mr Justice Smith’s inquiry was that of research in the university and its implications. The chancellor had given excellent reasons for the aim of a combination of teaching and research, and had then asked whether the University of New Zealand had given research the place which was its due. “The Royal Commission .of 1925 said unmistakably that it had not,” Dr Focken continued. “At that time they thought that the New Zealand student was not trained to work in a spirit of inquiry, but in blind faith in the authority of teachers and text book. The general impression was that the University of New Zealand offered unrivalled facilities for gaining university degrees, but was less successful in providing a university ‘ education.’ ” A Long Way to Go

Dr J. C. Beaglehole, the historian of the university, had reached the same conclusion in 1937; and Dr Focken quoted him as saying that “the mission of the University of New Zealand has not been to facilitate the diffusion of that culture which its founders sincerely desired to see spread but' to provide cheap professional schools for the supply of duly certified lawyers, doctors, bank clerks, dentists and teachers.” On the basis of his thorough inquiry from the senior members of the university staff, Mr Justice Smith had found that there had been some improvement in the place given to research. “But we have a long way to go before we can draw level with the English and best dominion universities,” Dr Focken went on. “ Research in the Medical School has increased in quantity and quality since 1940, and there has been an advance in a few other departments in science and arts. Some of the staff have made time for research by sacrificing other interests. This is just a start.” The solution of the problem was largely to be found in the question of finance, Dr Focken said, and he referred particularly, to Mr Justice Smith’s support for the Otago proposal of a University Grants Committee, on the lines of the English committee, attached to the Prime Minister’s Department and with powers of budgeting for a five-yearly period. The assessment of that committee could include the provision of adequate salaries and superannuation for university teachers, adequate equipment and adequate buildings. The English Example

“The English example has certainly produced magnificent results recently,” Dr Focken continued. “In 1945 the grant for the universities was increased by 175 per cent.—-from £2,150,000 to £s,9oo,ooo—and for 1946 it has been increased another 60 per cent., to £9,500,000. In addition, generous contributions have been made by large industrial organisations.’’ The outstanding question to be considered in- New Zealand, he said, was whether the University should be reformed within its present framework —one federated University of four constituent colleges and two agricultural colleges—or whether the time had arrived to plan for four autonomous but co-ordinated universities. “I support a system of four autonomous universities," he said. “There have been some excellent reforms in the past 20 years, but progress has been depressingly slow, and some of the chief obstructions remain. There is still the slow working of the university machinery. We still have a common curriculum, leading to restriction of freedom of teaching, and centralisation of administration at Wellington.” There was general agreement that federation offered no permanent solution, and that four separate universities would be the final outcome. When was that likely to be realised? In 1925 the strong conservative element said that no change should be made for 20 or 25 years. “Well, those 20 or 25 years have just about passed,” Dr Focken said, “ and it will not be surprising if exactly that attitude rules again today.” Compared with 1925, the four university colleges had more than doubled the number of students .their staffs were almost doubled, there were more faculties and hostels, and the University was in every way more complex and diversified. As individual universities, they would not be unusually small, and as soon as full-time academic heads were appointed—which should not be long delayed—there were no insurmountable difficulties in the way of separation. Entrance Examination

The clause in Mr Justice Smith’s policy plan which provoked most discussion among Dr Focken’s audience was that advocating a review of the standard of the university entrance examination. The chancellor had not suggested that the standard should be raised “ unless it ought to be.” The standard which may shortly be achieved under the accrediting system may well be sufficient, the memorandum stated, and it was suggested only that the standard should be a satisfactory intellectual standard. Dr Focken commented that the standard was probably high enough, but he considered that the provision for only three subjects was inadequate. The present standard was too general. The idea was a good one, but it seemed that the pendulum had swung too far. Support tor this opinion was expressed bv Dr B. Howard, who said that all the best secondary schools were hiking four subjects in the Sixth Form and that some were taking more. There were schools, none of them in Otago, he added, which were taking only three subjects, and he described them as “just hothouse courses for •specialised university purposes.” That was not the function of the secondary schools.