The Press Thursday, July 2, 1925. The University.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18423, 2 July 1925, Page 8

The Press Thursday, July 2, 1925. The University.

If it is doing nothing- else, Hie Universiiv Commission is serving 1" reveal .some curious opinions as to the purpose of :i University. One of the witnesses Leant in Auckland, Mr J. C. Allmn, who attended as a representative of the Industrial Association, "urged a closer relation between industries and University training by "having direct representation of in- " dustries on the Senate." " The University," he added, "should produce " highly-skilled industrialists." In other countries than ours, it is true, the value of a University training is beginning to be recognised by business men, and Universities to be looked upon as having a •wider usefulness than the production of teachers, scholars and members of the learned professions. But these men Lave too sound an understanding of the functions and purpose of a University to imagine that it should turn out " skilled industrialists " or that its governing body should include representatives of the manufacturing in-, dustries. The world is a very largo place, and nobody can say positively of any nnwiso proposal that it is quite new, but Ave doubt whether in any oilier country than our own it ha 3 been, or could be, proposed that the University should aim at teaching its children the art of manufacturing and selling hosiery, boots and furniture, under the guidance of a Senate partly composed of delegates front the manufacturing industries. That such a proposal can be made here is an indication of the difficulties which confront, those who arc striving to defend University ideals nowadays. Nobody, we hardly need to say, thinks that sound business men are out of place in a University Senate, but those who think the University exists for other ends than the production of " skilled indus- " trialists " will insist with the ViceChancellor, Professor Rankine Brown, that business men should be selected for membership of the Senate " be- " cause of their interest in and comI " petency to deal with University quesj"tions, not because they happened to " represent some special trade or pro- " fession." There is a type of business man who will challenge .the Vice- | Chancell&r's suggestion that University questions may be outside the understanding of the purely commercial mind; and although some may merely sraile at him, he can hardly be laughed at, for he represents one section of the public which is working towards what they call the " democratising " of the University. It is not a small public nor a negligible one, and if it could have its way the University would be turned into something which, however admirable it might be from some conceivable points of view, would not be doing what Universities are designed to do. We cannot help thinking that it was from sympathy, conscious or unconscious, with these democratising reformers, that Sir James Parr set up his Commission, and we cannot but feel grateful that the Senate in its unreformed condition contains some men who, Although not so representative of everything and everybody as Parliament is, can yet command, the respect and attention of most people, even in this democratic country, when they maintain the older and sounder theory of the University's functions and uses.