MODERN TRENDS

Hokitika Guardian, 25 September 1931, Page 3

MODERN TRENDS

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION. EMPIRE CONGRESS. N.Z. REPRESENTATIVES RETURN. "WELLNGTON, September 22. Modern trends in university cducalion methods were revived, briefly yesterday by Dr James Higlit, Recitor of Canterbury College, who, with, professor T. A. Hunter, of Vietoriiipollege, returned by the Makura from a visit to Great Britain and the United States. They were delegates to the quinquinnial conference of the universities of the Empire held, at London and Aberdeen. They also'attended as Government representatives, the con-

ference of the Now Education Fellowship at Bedford College; Before the opening of the congress they were able to visit all the important institutions connected with the IJniversiy of London. They later visited other universities in Great Britain, including Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Reading, Leeds, Bristol, Aberdeen, and St. Andrews. “One of the most important sessions of the congress was a business meeting at which the constitution of the Bureau of Universities of Empire was considerably modified,” said Dr. Higlit, in the course of an interview. “As a s result- of the chief change made irthe members of the bureau are now 'the .universities and university colleges of the Empire instead of as be-, jfohe- individual members connected with the universities. The function of. the bureau is to act mainly as a clearing-house for information and ideas as to matter s of common interest, to the universities of the Empire and to act as agents for different universities in London. The bureau is now being recognised by the universities in foreign countries as the body through which they may commtinicate with the British universities. For example, the French Government has entrusted the bureau with the administration of certain scholarships open to members of British universities. Such bodies a* I],e Carnegie Corporation iand the Rockfellow Institute use the bureau a s a means of communication.

ACCREDITING NOT FAVOURED

“One of the most urgent problemconsidered at the congress was tin? question of entrance into the university and the conditions and mode of entry. It is a remarkable thing that, the balance of opinion in respect of accrediting from secondary schools to the university is now very definitely against that system, both in Great Britain • and -the United States. At the same time there is universal agree ment that the entrance examinations urgently require modification in various directions, and we have important recommendations tto make in that respect. . Very great attenffnn was paid to devising methods whereby the entiaiice examinations shall provide to

a greatei 1 degree thilh they haVb r "iii r tlie past for variation of attainments and bents, and a better technique is being worked out to deal with cas<.s o , students who are on the borderline, or who fail the examination in one subect while, doing perhaps brilliantly in a outlier subject of group of subjects. “Another important matter was the question of the present position of specilisation of studies and the Pli.D. degree—which are related subjeits. There is a fairly general opinion that. 1 the tendency in past yars has been to attract too many students to research and into narrow specialised studies who are really unfit for it and would be much better qualified f r their work in life by taking a more general course Hence a considerable amount of t ine was devoted to discussion of the place of the specialised studies in education and the advisability of modifying courses for the Pli. D. degree so as to fit in much more easily than at present with file 'master’s degree and the higher • doctorates. “A very interesting discussion was that oil the proposal to institute more general courses. for the master’s degree Experiment in this direction is being carried out in Liverpool and Manchester, and is contemp ated in other universities. It is interesting to note that the trend of the discussion in this particular subject was such as to justify to a large extent the structure of many of the honours courses in the University of New Zealand. Greater care must lie taken in the future however, in guiding students into the appropriate c'.urse —general or specialised.

“The employment bureau which is in existence in some of the universitic s in Great Britain, notably at Cambridge and Glasgow, and whose purpose is to facilitate the placing of students in positions, was a matter to which we devoted close attention.”

“In regard to the new education lellowships, the most impoitant point was a proposal by Sir Percy Nunn, o: the London Day Training Col'lege, which found favour with the ronl-u----ence, whereby they would he established in London an imperial institute of education associated with the Government Board of Education and the Un - versity of London. .The function of t! is would be to act as a sort of in.tel igeiioe department for the whole of the Empire, linking up all the educatimal activites of the Empire and darwirg support financial and otherwise, from th- various Dominions and calomes as well as from the Home Govermfie’t. That is just a suggestion—-the details will he made public later.

“It was interesting to find that certain New Zealand students were in at tendance at the cuuorence, including Mr George Hill, of Southland, Mbs Johnston, of the Auckland Girls Grammar School, and Mis'? Cl ns on At the the same time T think the ■Department of Education should have been directly represented.”

•Professor Hunter, who is also vicechancellor of the university, spoke similarly of the work,of the congress.