H—34a

3. Number of students obtaining degrees in science at the bachelor level during the same period. 4. Number of students obtaining degrees in science at the master level during the same period. 5. The future supply of science graduates. This information was extracted by the. Department of Labour and Employment from the tables of the annual reports of the Education Department (E-7) and the minutes of the Senate of the University of New Zealand. Because of changes in the University statutes, and for other reasons, considerable difficulty was experienced in obtaining comparable figures throughout the whole period. These unavoidable discrepancies do not, however, invalidate the main trends indicated by the figures. THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS TAKING SCIENCE COURSES In New Zealand the main organization concerned with the training of scientists is the University. The supply of scientists is, therefore, governed by the number of students enrolling in all courses, and, in particular, by the proportion of this total enrolling in science courses. Appendix IV sets out the number of students taking the various University courses between 1927 and 1947. This table shows a steep rise in the number of students to be found in specified science and allied courses. This trend is most graphically shown by the following table, in which index numbers (base : 1927=100) are used :

Table A —Index Numbers of Students Taking Courses (at Five-yearly Intervals)

RATIO OF SCIENCE STUDENTS TO TOTAL STUDENTS The percentage of students taking a science course to students taking other definite -courses ranged from B*7 per cent, in 1927 to 15-5 per cent, in 1947. Figure 2 (page 12) .shows these percentages for the years 1927 to 1947 inclusive.

11

Course Taken. 1927. 1932. 1937. 1942. 1947. 100 126 129 155 457 (383) Agriculture 100 142 119 104 447 (26) Home Science 100 87 83 155 rH (120) Engineering 100 70 74 66 230 (236) Mining 100 163 221 158 321 (19) All others 100 105 107 85 241 (3,595) Total 100 105 107 93 258 (4,379) (Actual numbers of students in base year shown in brackets.)