DIFFICULT TIME

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26749, 19 April 1948, Page 4

DIFFICULT TIME

PLIGHT OF STUDENTS EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES QUESTION OF EMIGRATION That the problems of staffing and overcrowding were not confined to New Zealand colleges but were equally pressing in universities throughout the world, was one of the conclusions to be drawn from an analysis of university education in other countries give to the Daily Times in an interview by Dr A. J. Coleman, one of the six secretaries of the World’s Student Christian Federation. A tall genial Canadian, Dr Coleman, who arrived in Dunedin by air on Saturday, has visited 52 universities m 11 countries during the past two years, on his present tour he is finding much to interest him in the University of New Zealand consistuent colleges. These problems of staffing and overcrowding, however, appeared to be the last of the .students’ worries m some countries in Europe. Dr Coleman said that in German universities, with which he was well acquainted, only about 5 per cent, of the student population was living reasonably well, because, he declared, this * proportion was engaged-in black market operation; another 40 per cent, were “getting along ” because they had relations or friends in country districts to supply an occasional parcel of food; but the remainder were in a “ desperate plight,” each student receiving less than a third of the New Zealander's ration.

“As a result of the denazification process,” Dr Coleman continued, “ hardly anybody educated during Hitler’s dictatorship is allowed to teach. Thus, most of the lecturing has fallen on the shoulders of old professors, who, through malnutrition and over-work, are incapable of producing those new, dynamic ideas, and philosophies so urgently needed in the confused Germany of to-day. This is another handicap for the student.” Heavy Bomb Damage

All except two universities in Germany had suffered heavily from bombing although every one was in use again, the greater number of them with approximately twice as many students as before the war. Young people from every town and village were intensely eager to obtain higher education, and colleges were as overcrowded as those in New Zealand. One of the most difficult matters requiring attention was that of the displaced person. This problem, said Dr Coleman, applied not only to Germany, but also to several other European countries. In Gottingen, one of the two undamaged German universities, there were 300 displaced persons enrolled as students, mostly Ukrainians and Poles. “ These people,” Dr Coleman went on, “are in an unenviable position. They dare not return to their home countries because of Communist domination, but they hate the Germans strongly and do not wish to stay in that country any longer than they can help. They, therefore, want to emigrate. Some of them are the finest people I have met, and would make excellent settlers in the dominions. I think they would be of great benefit to New Zealand if they were given the chance to come here.” Students’ worries were accentuated by a tremendous lack of text books, said Dr Coleman, and he reported the case of the English department in the Warsaw University not possessing an English-Polish dictionary, a handicap which those who have attempted to learn a foreign language can appreciate fully. Inflation had plunged many students into further difficulties. Speaking of the conditions in univercities in the western hemisphere, Dr Coleman said that they were also crowded. A large pfoportion of the students were ex-servicemen. Movement’s Achievements In every nation he had visited the Student Christian Movement appeared to be as strong as it was before the war. In Germany it was four times as strong, and he attributed this to the fact that the Germans, who had been completely disillusioned when Hitler was defeated, desired a faith on which to lean. The federation, of which he was a secretary, and which had its headquarters in Geneva, had achieved two great objects, said Dr Coleman. The first of these was the promotion of interdenominational understanding, and the setond was the impetus it ■. had given to an international understanding among students. In his tour of 11 countries he had been impressed by the fact that so much good in society was the result of the influence of the Christian church. Dr Coleman, who is 30 years of age, took an honorary B.A. degree in mathematics and physics at the Toronto University in 1939. He gained his M.A. in mathematics at Princeton and his Ph.D. in mathematical physics at Toronto, taking a particular interest in atomic physics and the theory of relativity. Subsequently, he taught for two years at Queen’s University, in Kingston, Ontario, a college founded by the Presbyterian Church and possessing a strong Scottish background. Dr Coleman has held his present position for three years.

Until Thursday Dr Coleman will be in Dunedin fulfilling a heavy list of engagements, among which are several meetings with the students at the University and the Teachers’ Training College.