63

E.—7a

The questions of salary and tenure of university professors have an important bearing upon the appointment of the right type of teacher. It will be conceded, we think, that for the highest quality of university work (and by this we do not mean advanced work merely), the qualifications demanded in the preceding paragraph are essential. But the number of men with such qualifications, who are available, is not unlimited, and universities and other teaching, scientific, and learned institutions the world over are on the lookout for them. New Zealand, by reason of its remoteness from centres offering special attractions to the student and scholar, must expect to have correspondingly greater difficulty in attracting the best type of teacher. This handicap is to be offset by making the conditions of salary, status, and tenure more than ordinarily attractive. But we do not find that this is the case. In the neighbouring universities of Sydney and Melbourne we think we are right in saying that no professorship carries a salary of less than £1,000 per annum, while many Chairs have much larger salaries attached to them. Another factor which, complicates the matter is the number of professorships necessary to staff four University centres, as against the fewer number required by one central University. But, while granting that a proportionately larger number of Chairs is necessary under the New Zealand system, we are of opinion that professorships have been established often without sufficient warranty. In a country with 1,350,000 people and such a geographical configuration as to necessitate four University teaching centres, some severe limitation of the number of courses offered was necessary from the outset. The supreme test of university work which is likely to contribute to national progress is quality, not quantity. But an examination of -the calendars shows that the New Zealand University provides a greater range of university teaching than does either of the centralized universities of Sydney and Melbourne, each of which serves a population far greater than that of New Zealand. Nor is the teaching of these varied courses, except in a few special professional schools, confined to one University centre. We believe that better results would have been obtained had the college activities been confined to fewer subjects and to fewer courses. It is not enough to adopt a curriculum and appoint a teacher. Work of university standing requires far more than this. In a university with limited resources, dissipation of educational effort over a large field inevitably leads to shortcomings. What is true of the number of separate courses is also true in some cases of the number of subjects contained within a course. The B.A. degree is a case in point. The analogy of the four Scottish universities is often urged by those who advocate four universities for New Zealand. It is argued that Scotland supported four universities when her population was no greater than that of the Dominion. But the strength of the smaller Scottish universities has been the strict limitation of the teaching to few courses, and to comparatively few subjects within these courses. Writing of the Scottish universities and applying the lesson to American colleges, President G. E. Maclean (Director of the American Universities Union in Europe) says : " Some institutions need to learn the virtue of thrift and of not creating improperly paid Chairs, others not to multiply subjects of instruction before they are able to give them efficiently."* Among the disabilities which confront a potential applicant for a Chair in the New Zealand University may be mentioned the necessarily wide scope of the subjects to be taught, owing to the impossibility of specialization within a small college ; the large classes to be taught at the pass stage ; the lack of opportunities and energy for private study and research due to pressure of teaching duties, spread over a considerable portion of the day and evening ; and absence from libraries, and from opportunities for association with co-workers in the same field of study. These disabilities are very real ones, and. unless they are compensated for by attractive salaries, security of tenure, and satisfactory provision for retirement, the best candidates will not persevere in their application. Some of the witnesses who appeared before us complained that owing to the change in the value of money their salaries were now worth very much less than

Salary and tenure of professors.

Too many professorships have been created in New Zealand.

Too ambitious a programme has been attempted.

Example of the four Scottish universities.

Disabilities of New Zealand positions.

Complaints of inequitable treatment.

* Bureau of Education, Washington, Bulletin, 1917, No. 16, "Studies in Higher Education in England and Scotland," p. 64,