OTAGO UNIVERSITY

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19665, 27 August 1935, Page 8

OTAGO UNIVERSITY

EXTRA-MURAL STUDENTS.

REGULATIONS TIGHTENED.

STANDARD OF DEGREES AFFECTED

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

WELLINGTON, Tuesday,

The question of extra-mural students was considered by the Otago University Council’s Professorial Board last evening when it was decided to rescind the previous regulations and grant exemption from lecture attendance only to .students who satisfy the Board that they are prevented from attending by the fact of earning their living or that such attendance would involve undue hardship.

The board issued a general memorandum expressing the view that the recent growth of university classes in New Zealand secondary schools was a retrograde movement.

The board expressed a further view that a university degree should certify completion of the course which has included Ihe essentials of university education, and not merely examination success, and the value of the degree depended almost wholly on how far it did so.

The report concludes: “Realising the effect which abuse of the extramural system is having on the standard of degrees, the board is forced to •the conclusion that some restriction's must be imposed. At the same time it was never suggested that genuine cases should meet with anything but sympathy and encouragement.’’