2

E.—7

HIGHEB EDUCATION. EXTRACT FROM THE THIRTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION. New Zealand University and Affiliated Colleges. The New Zealand University, the body which has general control of higher education in New Zealand, was founded by the New Zealand University Acts of 1870, 1874, and 1875. In 1876 the University was recognized by Koyal charter as entitled to grant the degrees of Bachelor and Master in Arts, and Bachelor and Doctor in Law, Medicine, and Music. The Amendment Act of 1883, and the supplementary charter issued in December of the same year, added the degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Science. Moreover, in 1904 the University Degrees Act gave the University authority to confer degrees of Doctor of Literature, Master of Laws, Surgery, and Science, and Bachelor, Master, and Doctor of Veterinary Science, Dental Surgery, Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Mining, and Metallurgical Engineering, Naval Architecture, Agriculture, Public Health, and Commerce. For these latter no further charter has been given, so that nominally they must be considered as having currency only in New Zealand. The affairs of the University of New Zealand are controlled by a Senate, which, under the New Zealand University Amendment Act, 1902, consists of twenty-four members or Fellows—four elected by the Governor in Council; eight by the governing bodies of the four affiliated institutions, two by each ; four, one each, by the Professorial Boards ; and eight, two each, by the four District Courts of Convocation, consisting of the graduates belonging to the several University districts. The revenue of the University is derived chiefly from a statutory Government grant of £3,000 per annum, from examination and diploma fees, and from interest on money invested. The University is an examining, not a teaching, body, and four teaching institutions are affiliated to it — the Auckland University College, Victoria College, Canterbury College, and Otago University. Of these four institutions the two first mentioned—Auckland University College and Victoria College—each receive an annual statutory grant of £4,000, supplemented last year by grants of £2,700 and £3,000 respectively for the general purposes of the institution, while the two others —Canterbury College and Otago University'—are endowed with reserves of land. The affairs of these University colleges, including the appointments of professors and lecturers, are entirely in the hands of the various Councils. Each of the four affiliated University Colleges specializes in certain directions, and to further this purpose the Government makes to each an additional annual grant to provide for the special studies pursued. This annual grant normally amounts to £2,000 in each case, but in the case of Otago University has been during the past year increased to £3,500 to meet the special expenses attached to the medical school. Otago University has both medical and dental schools, a,nd a school of mining and metallurgical engineering ; Canterbury College has a school of engineering (mechanical, electrical, end civil); at Auckland University College the grant is allocated for mining and commerce ; and at Victoria College it is in consideration especially of law subjects and science. While the University colleges thus perform the actual teaching-work, the University exercises most important functions in regulating the scope of the degree examinations, in appointing examiners, in awarding scholarships, in conferring degrees, and in many other directions. At the outset it was the policy of the University Senate to appoint outside examiners for most of its degree examinations ; generally speaking, this is still its policy, "with the result that the University