UNIVERSITY REFORM

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 886, 4 August 1910, Page 6

UNIVERSITY REFORM

ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR LABY. AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION. Before the members of the Wellington Philosophical Society last night, Professor Laby, of Victoria College, delivered an address on university reform. It had recently been stated by the Chancellor of tho University, be said, and many other peoplo believed, that university reform was jnerely a movement to abolish external examination. In , ' South Africa, he proceeded, where the university system was more analogous to ours than any other, they were spending half a million pounds to rectify tho effects of external examination. Tho true universities of the world were of two main types, whose chief function was either to create new knowledge or to form character. In Australasia, unfortunately, we had not one of either type. The University of New Zealand was modelled on London University—a system which dispensed degrees on the results of a. examination, and had been a failure in London and abroad. He declared that New Zealand people frequently sent their sous abroad to bo educated. In medicine there were probably as many studying it abroad as in the' Dominion. There were only 81 (1908) at Dunedin, and thero were 48 New Zealanders at. Edinburgh alone. A cause was that our university was a mero oaamining body, which did nothing to impart or. create, knowledge. Another cause, was that of our extravagantly-inefficient decentralisation. A single university was as much as a million peoplo could afford to maintain in a slate of efficiency, for an annual expenditure of ,£50,000, and a capital outlay of .£500,000 was customary and necessary. Undoubtedly, the best solution would be the establishment of a central university, but to advocate that were foolishness while the press, tho university, and the Legislature had yet to recognise that there was anything amiss with our higher education. The only possible way of arriving at a satisfactory reform was by inquiry here and abroad by the best Koyal Commission which could bo iset up.i He advocated reducing the number of college councillors irom sixty to eight, and said that while sixty were needed, it would be impossible to find the whole number of the right type. The Senate" should be composed 'of professors. Examining should bo the work of a board, consisting of all tho professors and independent lecturers. .

Dr. Barghell : , speaking on.the subject, held thiit modern . languages should be insisted on. German and French, perhaps,, were the most usaful. Man as an individual might dispense with such knowledge, but the nation 'required it. What was most necessary for the white man was to learn the history of tho white race, i not the history of the yellow race, with whom there was nothing in common.

Professor Easterfield considered that the opiate of the New Zealand system which allows the scandal which left willing students without the facilities and the opportunities which should ha at their'disposal, seemed to. be the objectof passing examinations rather than'attaining something. Mr. E. D. Bell said that Professor Laby had with extraordinary- rapidity, great exactness, and wonderful briskness put his-finger on the weak spot of the educational system of. the country. He had dene a great service, but had not pointed out. a remedy. Things here and in Sydney were very rliiferem. We had not: tli» population here for a big central insti 7 tution. Victoria College had to serve Westland, Nelson, Marlborongh, 'Wairarapa, Manawatu, Taranaki, and Hawke's Bay. A point which must l>3 impressed was the position of the young man who went to college after work. Many;students had to earn, in order to study. Public interest in the university was meagre. It was a question of whether or not the syllabus should nol lie entirely overhauled to fit tho circumstances of the colony. Broadly speaking, there was truth in almost every one of Professor Laby's points, but the difficulty was a remedy. They could not get the interest taken in Victoria College which a vast district was crying out for. Warm sympathy and determination - -as well as monetary aid were lacking. To progress they must not moreij debate; they must push on. It does seem hopeless," he concluded, "to suppose that in New Zealand we shall ever get tho advantages of centralisation, permanent as they evidently, are." Mr. G. .51. Thompson, M.P., said that wo would never arrive at a central university, but might centralise many of the faculties. In closing the- discussion, the chairman (Mr. T. Kinjj said that « very B<"'<l case had been made out for the investigation; or the' question. ' , RVe hope to publish Professor Laby's address in full in Saturday's issue.] :