UNIVERSITY. REFORM.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 992, 6 December 1910, Page 6

UNIVERSITY. REFORM.

y- C CONVOCATION'S VIEWS. • & :Bi SOME VIGOROUS SPEECHES. #i&..- : ■-■•■■• '. •-''■-- ' " . P'rU:-:.-- .■•■■-. ■ l> , EXAMINATIONS Jo. |; T ■ 'CONDEMNED.' ' ' \:'~:i' l j<: : -' ; "- .' ______ '''■'" ::-■■; JThe'Court of- Convocation of the Middle ;■:-. i Ifiiiversity District was held Inst events Sir. T. B.lilem:.'ing' presided, ana. there were fifteen ■V- others 'present. . f . :. , 'iy'.'- &fr. T..E. Fleming- was re-elected cliairman.\ of for the' next, thrco '■'. : fears.: There was no other nomination. kV:'.'-,!ia returning "thanks' for his election, };> ■ ifrV Fleming said he'was anxious that (i- the younger t'Taduates. should .come forh-: ■ ward, in' stronger forca; and make their kc, viewe'hiMwn. 'Convocation gay.e them an , opportunity of 'doing so,, and he' hoped %:, life ' infused .into the Convoj/:. cation. ; _ '.' ' \ ... "'. .

. j|' A Non-cornml-ttal Report^ 'The; committoe 'ivliich had been, appointed to- oqiis.de; , , ;fche. subject. of TJmvejsityv reform -reported having met representatives of tho P.rofessorial Board of Victoria College and -, discussed tho: subieS.t. fully. . P,.iblic meetings had .been -held and an association formed to endeavour to obta.ui the -•eforius which were considered necessary! for making the ■University efficient. As the committee's Drife of, .reference did. not ask.them to, express an opinion,!, but;- only to'.obtain information, and as ' the' subject had been ; fully discussed on . the. platform and in the press, the coiniaittee left tho Convocation as a whole to decide on the various questions raised. 1 The views and recommendations of 'these- advocating reform H'ere summarised as follow:— ~ 1. The. college libraries do.not make adequate provision'; for ■ university , study or research.; - : ■ ; ,'. 2. The. facilities for modern uni- -. .•'versity N teaching are not eo.nal to the minimum required .of,an efficient uni-' ; "■ versity. : . ■ •"■■ v ■ ' .. 3. Details ; of ; the' curricula for *de- • grees and of syllabuses for individual ■; subjects are technical'•'■ niatters, , and;;" therefore the ti'iiiversity 'teachers , t should ex_officio ta^ca'definite iiiid ■'./..xcgular part in all: this portion -of • : : academic legislation. A. The external examination system ,15—(a) educationally, unsound, as . it • -..iih'duly- exacts examinai'aon, and di- • ■ ■■, vofces it.from teaching; \(b)' decreases , i the tense of responsibilitj!; of making ■ .complete and'aueqnate"provision, for /teaching. ■■• "'.'■" -. ■'.'■' '

■".■'.■: 5. .That, a Royal Commission-should " '. bo appointed to'take "evidonc6, both -within and without New'Zeiiland; and rto■''■recommend'- such, changes .'as. will' ■'•. ( give the- Dominion a, niodern* and effi■v. cient'University system. ■■'■.. ..-:-■" ■ Age of Matriculation. f ■ : .'The chairman, in, moving' the adoption -.of-.-:the ' with ,satisfaction 'to-:- the. change. made by the' Sunite in ■regard' to the : matriculation examination. This would have an,important effect on ; primary education, because it would how :bi: recognised that a-.pupil should spend at. least four 'years at- a secondary school' ."■..before entering' the'university. \ Three .years''had been regarded .by-many as long' .enough for .a- , pupil to' stay at the sec;.ondary school, and parents had usually ,- : desired' the period to.be as. short'as pos'■■/"sib'le. for financial■'"■ considerations, . not "realising .the great desirability:of proper •- preparation for college. Ho regretted > that the. Senate had not also, raised the matriculation age: to' :17. .•.. " . •-". ■ Iblr.' ,E.. C ,C. Levvey, /seconded the' lno- '" tibn. '■'■■'. ".•" '■.■•■■'.. '.-"' . •■ .-.''.' • . ■-~ ; ~The Teport was'adopted, and the five :clauses:alone were then considered seria■■■.,'iitri.-'-. .'■:•■■■•'-. ■ .: ■ .••■■■■ ■■'■■'■';';''■■'•' '■ '. Paucity of Books. • . ; ".- :-Profes»or Hunter 'mbvod: "That . the. '■•• District Court of Convocation, regrets that '". the college .'library is still inadequately :. eguipped: with, books and- periodicals reis- quired for research, .especially in scienca.". ■ '.'■■■'. This was. seconded by Mr. W. Gray. ■-'■'. Professor Kirk (chairman of the Pro- ■;' fcEs'orial Board'of'Victoria. College) strong- :. ly/ supported the. motion' He said that : every session .'students''were choked off from- research-works because they .had . no'books from which to'learn' what had .-■already been done in the same-line. The . sSudentVwhqlo after career niightbepre-!.-judicially affected arid a good worker lost -' touthe 'cause, of science, .Amoncr' several ; examples, he mentioned that in the year S. 1908, , 55 papers were read .before societies " iri' different parts of the -world,,on points ;' .connected with coagulation of ■ the blood, ...but' not..one'.'of-those- papers was available to'any Wellington .student. It was a-duty to New. Zealand to' remedy this ■ defect. We 'should not be .belaud the iSst of the world except in. time. . '• 'VAIr. Levvey. spoke-of the very notice-, able-'lack of literary and legal works in library. ■ -; . .-,-' (The. chairman .said, the'reason for .the V inadequacy of the, library, was want of .money. ' The. library. had ' benefited, in ,'tjie, past by such gifts as - , the Manson ;:.'bequest, /and 'he ' hoped that example ■ would lie followed by other citizens. The , .'•:-.-. ppuiicil' would help materially wherever '•'. it- cquld. ). . . . ; The motion was carried' unanimously. ■ . "Professor-Hunter, commenting on a pro- . pnsal to.'".forward the 'resolution to tho ; ::c"o'uncili said it should not bo ' suggested .J. -'.that' the council, was in any'.way to blame for' the state . of the ■ library.' ■It was • really an infinitely better library than ■X. those of. the other university colleges. " ■-iJThe resolution was , ■ amended' by the addition of words recognising the' efforts ' of,,'the" council ,to improve the library.

l-.i. ■ '". Outside Examinations. .; ;Clause 4 (which was taken next)-was ' linoyed as a motion by Professor Hunter, 'yßvho said that'.when the external exam- . iiiation. system was adopted, the. logical development would have -been to, : merely ■ employ coaches to prepare students for ■' the London degrees...-Keplies had,just : been, received from a large, number' of .educational experts : who had b-cc-n asked to' state their vieivs on this ■ subject, and ■ all-.condemned.it: ...The Melbourne, Scottish, and London Commissions had re- '■ fused- to. accept it. The London' TJni.versity had become a 'teaching- , body instead of.merely an examining body, aud, ■'but' , , for vested interests, it would 'have, abandoned its. examination. .of outside /Students. Professor Tucker, of' Mel- ' bbiirne, ■ characterised the. outside examination- system as intolerable,- cumbrous, and, degrading.. He (Professor ' Hunter) :thought that all the evils of..the university, such as the inadequate libraries 'and the want of money, flowed from the external'.examination system; .ft was un- , known-in America ami Germany, two of ..the> forejnost educational countries. ■",'■'■ ;.'SIr; de la Mare, in seconding the mo- : tion, said that if the university .was to continue to extend facilities to-people ■wlio , were earning their livings,- they :nuist '.not be allowed to get through with a "'minimum training. The only way to .prevent this would be to throw the re-.-sponsibility on the professors, so that a.'student could not snap his , fingers at the Professorial Board and appeal to Caesar beyond New Zealand. The grant- ■ ing of facilities for students; who were .earning' their, own living would be. of great benefit to the community if projierly worked. If not, it would become a sham. The whole, attitude of-students towards university work was. corrupted and tainted by th.o external system. '/ . . t An Objector. '•'.'': ■.:'. Mr. W. F. Ward/, while admitting I some of the arguments in favour of change, held that there would, be grave disadvantages .in throwing the responsi- '-'. bility on the .professors. They would bo '.subjected; to very groat pressure to pass '-: •students;. ..Tho only workable scheme '■would be'to 'appoint one or two professors and an "assessor to act with them. -There were :only a limited number of ' "flien- in New Zealand capable of acting iriVsuch a. capacity'.-. Before a change was •' wade he would want ,(o be convinced •■ that the hew system' would be better. .-■•.-'iMr. Lev.vey,,'speaking as one who hod • eeen universities-.in--..different.countries, said that of all university systems in : the British Dominions he. would choose the Now Zealand system last. The idea that the professors- wonld :be affected by • pressure was an absurdity.: • The chairman spoke in support, of the motion, but .thought there might, be .'difficulty in finding examiners arid, assessors for' the honours, candidates.

. D?rofessor Hunter said: examining should iibt' I) 6' leftTo individual' professors, 'but Hie four professors of each subject should form an examining, board in that subject'. .It was curious th.it in medicine, the most important subject of all, we had internal examinations; ' . Wouldn't bo Tolerated Elsewhere. Professor Kirk, in"' moving Clause 3, said that the system of having curricula and syllabuses "drawn up by laymen (the Senate) would not be tolerated any,whero else. The Senate had lately, for the'first time, asked the'four Professorial Boards to meet in conference. It'had in .the past consulted them'.separately, and had sometimes received conflicting advice, from them. After a short discussion tho motion was Ciirriod. * Clause 'i was not moved. Apropos of Clause i, Professor Hunter moved ' • "That this Court' of Convocation expresses ifs. approval and appreciation of the action of Parliament in deckling to hold next session a pre- . liminary- inquiry l juto' the system of ... university education." , This was seconded by Mr, Levvey. . The mover . said . the inquiry would bring life into , the university, which was now dying' of inanition. Mr. Collins remarked that a Royal Commission was often only a means of a question. '■ Tho motion was earned.

System of Election. On the motion of Professor Hunter, it was resolved: "That this Court of Convocation is of the opinion that, in university : elections the system of • voting by proxies should be abolished; that nominations should be received by • i -the .returning .officer. and 'ballot,papers be sent to all voters, such papers to be returnable .within a certain time . to. the •■ returning l officer, 'who (with scrutineer? appointed by the candidates) should count the votes and declare'the result of the election." A' committee was appointed to further tho object of tho motion,-and it was decided to ask the other courts of convocation, to .support , the request and the Senate to give' effect .to it at its next meeting. Convocation reaffirmed a motion passed at a' previous -meeting in ''favour of raising the age of matriculation to 17.