NEW ZEALAND UNIVERSITY.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1697, 29 July 1879, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND UNIVERSITY.

The following in the substance of the report of the Commission on Higher Education : The New Zialand University should be remodelled, as to the constitution of the i Senate, which it is proposed to bring more in accord with the character of its functions. The commissioners are decidedly of opinion that it should remain, as at present, the only body endowed with the power of granting degrees, but it is recommended that the University should have 'a fixed seat, and, by a narrow majority, it was decided that this ee&t should be Dunedin, that the meetings of the Senate should there be held in the Otago University buildings, and alldogrecs grartedthere publicly conferred. University colleges are to be established at the most important •centres of population in the North Island, capable of supplying an education of the same

( standard as that furnished by the University i of Otago and the Canterbury College. It is to bo provided for by Act that all colleges i (including the present University of Otago ; and the Canterbury College) coming under . its provision shall bo styled the Uni--1 versity Colleges of the provincial districts , in which they are or shall be situated. . and bo in every way component parts of the University, whilst preserving an ample indel pendencs ;it being expressly enacted that the i University Colleges shall not in any way be under the jurisdiction or control of the Unij versity, further than ns regards the regula- ! tions for qualifications for degrees or other distinctions, the Colleges being in another 1 respects subjected only to regulations of their , several governing bodies or councils. lt : .« however, proposed that the fixing of the j terms of the academic year should rest with , the Semite of the University, and that the , terms should be uniform in the several Uai- , versity Colleges. The Commissioners consider that it will only be necessary at present to . establish Colleges at Auckland and Wclling- ■ ton, and they propose that for the annual , maintenance of these, stops should bo forlh- . with taken for utilising the reserves set;apart | for the promotion of higher education n the i provincial districts of Auckland and Welling- ’ ton. The reserves just now yield no revenue, but a rental might be without difficulty obI tained. The establishment of the Colleges, , however, the commissioners think, is of such urgent importance that it should not be dej ferred, but that they should be forthwith , endowed with Crown lands sufficient to pro- - vide an immediate income to each amounting to £IOOO a year, and that if it is not practicable , to make rtssrves bringing in 1 1 once such an income, the deficit in each case should bo made ’ good by a pecuniary grant until until such income is realised, such grant to bo appropriated \ in the University Act. It is further reoom- ! mended that the erection of the necessary , buildings should be taken in hand by the Gor vernmeut. and the Commissioners express the . opinion that grants of £12,500 for each College would bo sufficient, although falling far short of the amounts expended for like pur- [ poses in Dunedin and Christchurch. Proceed- , ing to the constitution of the govern- [ ing bodies of the University Colleges, Die , Commissioners recommend that the council of ’■ each College should be composed of members J of whom a third should be nominated by the i Goveruor-in-Counoil, a third elected by the Professorial Board of each College, and a [ third elected by the graduates of the Now Zealand University who are on the books of * the College, so soon as there are twenty such [ graduates. This privilege is to extend to the holders of ad eundeni degrees in the Univorj sity who may put their names on the books of } any College, provided that they shall not f exercise this power until thoro are twenty t members of that College who have become b graduates of the University by examination. 3 The Commissioners do not think it advisable , that the members of the College councils I should bo appointed for life, but that the appointments should be terminable at the end: of four years, and that in order to brima retirement by rotation, of • four shall retire annuallv , • furtfc ,. r *

—ii IB luriLur profc posed to give a JSF§tatus to the Professorial B 1 Boards, *04,.. grant such Boards specific 3 I P ow , o Khalogous to those exorcised by the ’ o L?erning bodies of the Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. In order that the New Zealand University should fulfil the functions proposed to be assigned to it, the Commissioners consider it necessary that the constitution of the Senate should be remodelled and a new Act should be passed, saving all existing rights and preserving the continuity of the University, and that further in this Act should be incorporated such provisions of the Otago University Ordinance as may be requisite to protect existing institutions and their endowments from unnecessary interference. As to the constitution of the Senate, the Commissioners recommend that this body should consist of the fellows of the University, to be appointed as follows : —Six to be nominated by the Govornor-in-Council and threo to be elected by each University College ; the tenure of office to be throe years, ono-third of the nominated and one-third of the elected members retiring annually j the chancellor and vice-chancellor to be elected by the Senate out of their own body. The commissioners are of opinion that the proposed changes in the composition of the University and the existing councils of the Otago University andOanterbury College should take place at as early a period as practicable, and that their successors,and the councils of the proposed Colleges at Auckland and Wellington, should be brought into existence with all reasonable speed, due regard being paid to all further interests and engagements connected with retiring governing bodies, and with the educational institutions at present affiliated to the University. In conclusion, the commissioners state to the effect that they have reported on this branch of their inquiry in the first instance, feeling assured that the present system of University education could, during the current session, be placed in a much more satisfactory condition, and they commend their proposals to the consideration of the Government, in the sincere belief that great advantages will accrue to the cause of liberal education in all parts of the colony if the scheme they have proposed be adopted by Parliament.