HIGHER EDUCATION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1529, 27 August 1912, Page 6

HIGHER EDUCATION.

CASE FOR REFORM. NATIONAL UNIVERSITY POLICY. COMMISSION SUGGESTED. ATTITUDE 0E THE GOVERNMENT. The case for reform of tho New Zealand University system was eet forth yesterday by a numerous and representative deputation from tho University Reform Association, which interviewed the Hon. W. F. Massey (Prime Minister)' and the Hon. Jas. Allen (Mgiistor for Education). Tho Hon. H.-1). Bell attended during tho latter part of tho proceedings. Representatives of tho following bodies were present or in their absence were apolo-gised-for:—Parliament, University Skifttc, Victoria Collcgo Council, Professorial Board of Canterbury College, Professorial Board of Victoria College, Committee rf Convocation of Victoria College, Victoria College Graduates' Association, Wellington -Educati.cn Board, Wellington City Council, Wellington' Chamber of Commerce. . Apologies for absence- were received from ' the Hon.' F. M. B. Fisher, and from a number of professors, members of Parliament, and others. Two Necessary Reforms. . ■ The Hon. A. L. Herdman, as one of tho city members, introduced the deputation, nnd emphasised its representative -character. Ho recalled the fact that during the last'session of Parliament a petition was presented to tho House, signed by a number of professors of Victoria College, praying that an inquiry might bo made into the position of University govem- : ment in New Zealand. The petition was inquired into exhaustively by tho Education Committee, and as a. result of investigation, and after hearing witnesses, the committee came to the conclusion that some reform should take place. The committee, did not go the length that the petitioners desired—that some impartial investigation should ho made into tho University systeni. The deputation had come that morning to ask that pome expert from outside New Zealand should be brought in to investigate the University system in order that' legislation might be introduced that wculd put the universities on a proper footing. There were two respects in'which reform was necessary. " Those engaged on the stalls of university colleges _ should have a greater.voice in f|ioir government, nnd it Was considered highly desirable that the four university (alleges should be placed' on some substantial 'financial footing. They recognised, of course, that this could not bo done in a day, but they Were of opinion that the first step in reform ought only to be taken after the advice of an outside expert had been. obtained. A great deal had been done by the present 'Minister' for Education (the -Hon.- Jas. Allen), who had put up a magnificent fight for reform at tho last f meeting of the University Senate. A Royal Commission Advocated. Mr. C. B. Morison said that the deputation desired urgently that the Government would take step 3 to have 'a commission appointed to inquire into the proposed reform of the New Zealand university system. Responsibility in. regard .ti-the-educational system of the Dominion lay'with the Government. -As a layman: ho 'considered that whrit had been called on education system in New Zealand for the'last % years was.not a system of education at all, but a system of public instruction. The broud distinction between Huch a system and a-system of. education should be observed, and this would la found to be the ground-work of the movement for university'reform. The ■difficulty under which the staffs of the university laboured was that thby were called upon to prepaie. students for an outside examination* instead of taking tho whole responsibility of disciplining the characters and minds of students. They were compelled, whether they liked it or not, to some extent, to cram. This was not only not good, it was positively injurious to the cause of education. It was a difficulty that there vrere four separate university colleges in the Dominion, which could not well bo consolidated into one institution. But some system of specialisation should be adopted at each centre, so as to prevent wasteful overlapping. This was a- matter emphasised by tho Hon. J. Bryce when he addressed the students of_ Victoria College at Wellington. Ho was informed that there would he no 'difficulty in getting as chairman of the proposed commission a man of the highest possible standing in England. The question exercising them was not limited to New Zealand. Tho best men in England had considered the question as to whether professors should be limited to instruct- ' lng students for an external examination. They suggested that the commission'should < 'have two New Zealand members acquainted with local conditions, and thai it should have power "to visit Australia. W r hat. they wero striving for'was that a '. man should be so equipped as to mako him the best possible citizen. He sub- , mitted that thp New Zealand University Reform League in its past movements had made out a strong case for reform. A Deplorable Contrast. . Mr. A. R. Atkinson said that it was common ground to the advocates and opponents of university reform in New Zealand that the university occupied a high and vital position, and that it was the duty of all good citizens to extend the iniiueuce of the university. The statutes of New Zealand contained no definite statement of university policy. The system in vogue lad never been determined on a compreliensive plan. No one could :have had sufficient ingenuity and pervers'ity to design such a sj'stein as had ■{.Town up in New Zealand in. accidental nnd piecemeal fashion. Tho Otago University was 'established in 18G9 and the New Zealand University was established in 1870 "for the 1 advancement of sound learning." The Act of 1871 mado it an institution for the conduct of examinations. It ■was this deplorable contrast which it was the cardinal aim of the University Reform Association to abolish. The advocates of reform. would ho quito content to abide by the verdict of the examiners abroad upon the existing system. One of. the most eminent of them, Professor Foxwell, of London, had stated that the external form of examination at the University of London was the principal vehp.ou for the deplorable condition in which ■it found itself. A commission, reporting In 1879, had clearly indicated the defects of the system which still existed hut in spite of the excellenco of that report Parliament was too busy to deal with-it. After the lapse of 30 years,-Par-liament and a Reform Government Should be glad to take the matter up. The, best had been made of the New Zealand system those who had administered it, but in spite of what objectors here and there might say, a pamphlet issued by the association containing tho opiuions of authorities collected, without discrimination, from all over the world, would show where the weight of academical opinion toy.

SCATHING CRITICISM.

PROFESSOR PICKEN ON PRESENT CONDITIONS. Professor Pioken said that he represented a body of university teachers who had been active in the cause of university reform, and a steadily increasing number of other university teachers whose enthusiasm for tho movement was growing rapidly with their knowledge of the ideals and. aspirations which were its motive power. One charge ngainst the existing university system in New Zealand by those who had the best means of knowing is inner workins misrht be put in a very few words. This country was receiving nn utterly inadequate return for the public money which was being spent on university education, and the root cause of this was that there was not and never had been a national policy for the uni\Trsitv' wcTk of New Zealand. It was true that fie University of New Zealand was piousJy dedicated to "tho promotion of sound learning," and to the cause of "a, regular and libera! course of education,"" but the '.machinery for achieving this most worthy objective was to-day about as antiquated and inefficient as it. could verv well be; it was maohmery which by its very nature hampered each of its own parts in the work for which those parts were severally designed. It was commonlv said among those interested that tho "chief cause of inefficiency was to ho found in t'he insufficiency ami .ftKkabJlitv of tho. financial proytsioa m

the university college, but tho financial embarrassments of the college representee onty one aspect of that lack of statesman like' polioy which oharaolerised the whole university system, and they maintained that jf the main problem were capabl.v solved it would bo found that a good national i\niversity could be financed without the expenditure of more money than was at mvse-iit appropriated to that purpose. There had never been any attempt to put the finances of the North Island Collcgo on a."* sound a basis as tho older college of the South Island, but they had no desiro to see' the South Island Colleges bled for the benefit of the North Island. Their on,o desire vas to see every penny • invested in university work prodnchvp of ■ the greatest possible' benefit to tho whole , community. They ma\ntnmed that n university must be concert™ , as a fountainhead of clear thinking iNnd l>?nPst thinkins for the nation; ft naOonal institution for producing -higJi-thinkii.NJ, lngh-soulei men and women; for turmX? out good citizens of tho greatest possible cfkoiency (in tho highest senso of the tei'm). And they asked for complete reorganisation ot tho university towards accomplishing this high object on tho soundest mctuodfl. A Heterogenous Body. The only recognised, university that at, present existed in New Zealand was a. heterogenous Iwdy of twenty-four men,, most of whom had no special qualifications for the highly technical work they hud to do. Tho constitution of this body (the University Senate) revealed no glimmering of a national policy for higher education; the only discoverable principle was that of representation of a variety of interests, Jvhich, however important in, themselves, should bo altogether subsidiary to the supremely important interest of national university education. Tho Senate met for a week or two each year, and was expected in that time to.shape the whole educational policy for the year. A3 a matter of fact, its activities were confined to mere routine business, and to establishing avenues to degrees—on paper and by means of examination papers. The Senate had absolutely no control over tho actual working out of any educational policy it might seek to forniulate-a. fact which alone ought to condemn the existing system in the judgment' of any body of business men. "The Senate of the University of New Zealand," said Professor Picken, "is an embodiment of the utterly discredited view—a view which shackled the Empire of China through its centuries of 6luggish development—that tho drawing up of a syllabus and the setting of an examination paper are the supremo expressions of an educational policy. Futile Competition. Tho second grade of our complex university system, Professor Picken continued, consisted of the governing bodies of the affiliated colleges, bodies which existed primarily to keep watch and ward over public expenditure upon tho actual work of university education. These bodies had no correlation with ono another and only the slightest connection with tho national body. They had to expend much energy in utterly tutile competition for Government doles and in the upkeep of their respective establishments. Their remaining efforts were devoted to struggling heavily in the of the University Senate—for whose policy they had no responsibility, as the Senato itself had iio responsibility for the bills that had to be paid by the public ,for the Working out 'of its schemes. The meagre representation of the councils oil the Senate only saddled a number of .men with, a double irresponsibility. Until ,the. . other day no provision had been made, for the inclusion of expert the College Council, except in Otago. ' Provision . to this end was. now being made in Auckland, but both in Canterbury and Wellington tho councils themselves had opposed reform in this direction because oi tho utterly erroneous and pernicious view that the professors and lecturers were tho paid employees of the governing, body. The System of Appointments. The councils exercised the greatest influence on university education in the power of malting appointments which rested with them. This was the matter which most closely affected the estimation in which the university was held in other places and tho value of New Zealand diplomas; and it was an especially difficult task in New Zealand because there were so many national obstacles to the obtaining of first-class men for university teaching here. But it was work which thero had been, no attempt to put on such a business-like footing as would ensure a moderate likelihood of good appointments. The evils that could thus arise were supposed to be corrected by the University Senate's efforts to secure men of high standing in Great Britain for its examiners—efforts the success of which, by the way, depended wholly upon the advice of tho despised Now Zealand professor. Personality, Individuality, and Originality. "The Professorial Boards constitute tho third and lowest grade of the existing complex scheme," said Professor Picken. "Upon them obviously depends the issue of whether the University shall perform its high office of providing tho Dominion with fearless thinkers and good citizens, and high-principled leaders of public life. But it would lie hard to conceive conditions more adverse to the accomplishment of this vitally-important national work than those under which we havo to work in New Zealand. The University professor is a man whose value to the community should consist in his personality, hi 3 individuality of outlook, and his originality of thought, but such qualities would chiefly serve to make life a burden to the men whom we call 'professors' in New Zealand (so that there is consolation for someone in the thought that the conditions have minimised the danger .of men with' these qualities being imported)." Deception of the Public. Professor Picken said that the examinations of the University Senato were conducted by men whose only knowledge of the actual work done was what they could learn from a bald syllabus, and the conditions were such that the work required could be done very much better, and at much lower cost by coaching hacks than by distinguished men of learning. So far from the work being done for which the University existed, a great majority of the students left tho colleges less sound in body and mind and soul than on the day they entered, except for tho salutary influence of their personal contact with one anotber. All this implied a great waste of public money, and also a regular process of deception of the public, not deliberate deception practised by anyone, but deception on a large scale, embodied in a recognised national. institution. Students wanted degrees because the degrees enhanced their market value in some way; this enhancement being due to a public belief that the degree implied training. But what the student did- for his degree was not what the public wanted, and what the public really wanted was not wliat the student generally had in mind when seeking his degree, and so there was a perfect vicious circle of wasteful activity. Searching Investigation Demanded. "We maintain that all this demands the most searching investigation," Professor Picken continued, "such investigation as can bo conducted only under the guidance of a man who has the fullest knowledge of modern University affairs, who stands apart from and above, all local prejudices aud predelections, who has experience and reputation in such work, and whose impartiality and capability of forming a judgment are bevond question. Wo believe that tho present Government has a great opportunity to accomplish a great reform of university education in this Dominion at a relatively small cost an oporlunily resulting from shameful neglect of the question in the past as is witnessed by tho fact that the Eoyal Commission of 187 D, pointed out (in tho year I was born) the defect which wo have been pointing out'again to-dny. Wo ask the Government to give most careful consideration to what the public of New Zealand may rightly expect of its university and then, upon the advice' of such a Poyal Commission as we have suggested, to reorganise the system so that the body with supreme control shall be responsible for the outworking of its own policy by being perfectly co-ordinated with the loenllygoverning bodies awl with the teaching staffs so that the university teachers shall have the greatest possible freedom to do the best work for which they are capable. We have perfectly specific proposals to put forward with regard to all matters of detail-but we do not presume to think our opinions in any sense finally authoritative. The Right Kind of Commission. "We juc prepared to udvoeale I hem liefore a Royal Commission whore.they wijl .have, neither rnore no.r less than their; i.iie ' —-"" ""* —■— r

I weight. We urge most strongly that it 1 would bo productive only of further mis- - chief to appoint any type of Royal C'om- ; mission, but such us would command cnnI fidcnce in any part of the world.. We be- ' lieve Hint the prime, consequences of ac- - lion after the. report of such a Royal Com- ■ mission would bo an enormous increase i in value of the return In New Zealand • for the public money which is being spent '■ on university education." PRIME MINISTER IN REPLY. GOVERNMENT WILL ASSIST REFORM. The Prime Minister said that lie had Ikcii very pleased to meet this large nnd influential deputation and to hear its representations. He thought it a very good thing for the country to see so many of its citizens taking such a keen and active interest in the all-important .subject of education. Tho deputation, . through its speakers, had very strongly expressed the opinion that certain reforms were required in connection with education and especially in connection with higher education. lie concurred in the opinion, expressed by Mr. Atkinson that tho word "reform" should appeal strongly to a Bcform Government. It did appeal to the Government. The first point mentioned was that the teaching staff should have more say in the control'of education than it now had. lie thought ho was right in saying that at the present lim-e Mr. G. Hogbeu (Inspector-General of Schools) was reporting on this very subject to tho Minister for Education. Another point, and a particularly important one, was in regard to finance. The Wellington branch of the university charged lower fees than were charged in Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin. Ho thought that there should be uniformity of fees. He agreed too. that there should be specialisation. ' Quite a number of other points had been mentioned all of which led up to the appointment of a commission consisting of one expert from outside and two from New Zealand. This was a matter for Cabinet, and he could not commit himself. Ho would submit the representations made td Cabinet, so far as the commission was concerned. "As a Reform Government," continued Mr. Massey, "we are going to helo you in. connection with the reforms that are undoubtedly required in connection with higher education. / Tho fact of vour having as members of tho Government Messrs. Herdman, Allen, and Bell should be a sufficient guarantee that the interests of education will be looked after so far as. the present Government is concerned, and that everything will be done to promote tho reforms which appear to me to be undoubtedly required." Mr. Herdman thanked the Prime Minister for receiving the deputation and for lus reply.