More University Tutors Might Pay Handsomely

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30976, 4 February 1966, Page 17

More University Tutors Might Pay Handsomely

After sampling Cambridge University’s college system. Professor F. M. Henderson, of the civil engineering department at Canterbury University, believes that the benefits of the tutorial system at least could be adapted in Canterbury, even if the university is never fully residential.

Cambridge had the obvious advantage that every’ student was in residence in a college and so readily able to consult his tutor at least once a week. “This amounts to private coaching, but students derive many other advantages from the knowledge that someone expects to talk to them regularly. It gives a feeling of security,” said Professor Henderson.

Professor Henderson be-

came a tutor while in residence at King’s College. “Visiting professors are welcomed in this role because of the chronic shortage of tutors,” he said.

This was the major problem. Tutorials were costly in time and staff, and might be considered a luxury. However, if New Zealand was concerned about the high failure rate among first-year university students, a bigger investment in tutors might pay handsomely. With the roll of the University of Canterbury growing, the attaching of all students to a college might have many advantages in delegated supervision and control.