E.—7 A,

100

It will be noted that 48 per cent, of these students are over the age of twentv-one years ; more than one-half of the men students, and 43 per cent, of the women, are over that age. Naturally enough, the youngest students on the average are those attending training colleges ; these have entered either after two years as a probationer or pupil-teacher, or immediately upon leaving the secondary school, and they cease to be training-college students, four years or two years, as the case may be, after the termination of their secondary course. Only 22 per cent, of these are over twenty-one years of age. The following shows the percentage of students (non-freshmen) over twenty-one years of age at each of the four colleges

4. Number of Subjects. Here, comparisons are made under three headings :• — (a.) Men and Women. —There appears to be no significant difference between the number of subjects taken by men and women respectively. The average is 2-9 in the case of men and 2-5 in the case of women. The slight excess in the case of men can be attributed to the fact that the Law and Commerce degrees, for which many men but only a few women prepare, have a large number of relatively light subjects, so that students frequently take four or five subjects concurrently. As a matter of fact, the statistics show that in the Faculty of Arts the women students do not set themselves a lighter task than do the men, the average number of subjects being 2-3 for men and 2-4 for women. Otherwise expressed, 28 per cent, of the women, as against 25 per cent, of the men, are taking at least three subjects; this, too, must be qualified by reference to the fact that a relatively large proportion of women are full-time students. (b.) Fre.shmen and Non-freshmen. —Forty-nine per cent, of the freshmen are taking three or more subjects, while 55 per cent, of the students in their second or subsequent year are taking at least three subjects. The percentage of freshmen with more than two subjects is : Auckland, 57 ; Victoria, 27 ; Canterbury, 61 ; Otago, 45. (c.) Day and Evening Students. —More significant deductions are to be drawn when students are grouped according to the time available for study, particularly if this be read in conjunction with the later section dealing with the rates of " mortality " amongst the different groups. Thus three or more subjects are taken by —75 per cent, of the day students ; 23 per cent, of the training-college students ; and 47 per cent, of other evening students. Taking the Arts Faculty alone, 64 per cent, of the day-students and 26 per cent, of the evening students take three or more subjects; of training-college students the percentage is 23, and of other evening students 30. The following figures show with respect of each college the percentage of students in each group who are taking more than two subjects for an Arts course : —•

5. Houbs per Week at Lectures and Labobatoey. The following classifies the whole of the students in percentages according to the number of hours per week at university lectures and laboratory. Baivw-k. jaac Up to 5 . . . . . . .. 20 Up to 7 .. .. . . .. .. .. 38 Up to 9 .. .. .. .. .. .. 55 Up to 11 .. .. .. .. .. 64 Up to 13 .. .. . . .. .. .. 71 Up to 15 .. .. .. .. .. .. 75 Up to 17 .. .. .. .. 78 Up to 19 .. .. .. .. 80 Up to 21 .. .. .. .. .. .. 82 22 and over .. .. .. .. .. .. 18

i Dav-students Training-college Other Evening 8tllH . nta Day students. students. Students. All btudents. . Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Auckland .... 34 18 50 41 Victoria .... 41 22 53 45 Canterbury .... 49 19 52 44 Otago ...... 64 27 67 58

I I ! Auckland. Victoria. Canterbury. Otago. All Colleges. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Day-students .. .. 78 57 68 62 64 Training-college students .. 43 14- 37 13 23 Other evening students 33 20 36 3 30