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desire to carry on to Matriculation. The bursary takes them to a larger school which has a stronger Sixth Form staff. It was, perhaps, natural that some students would prefer to remain at home and struggle towards Matriculation under difficulties ; it was to be expected that some teachers in district high schools would be prepared to undertake an added burden in order to retain the senior pupils in their schools ; but it was not anticipated that many of the students would in any case be unable to avail themselves of the bursaries because of shortage of accommodation in school hostels. That, however, is often the case, though all authorities controlling hostels have been asked to give priority to applications from district high school pupils. They are doing this as far as they can, and many such pupils have gone forward to the bigger school; but for one reason or another there are still many left in the district high schools. Because of the limited staffing of such schools, we are using the services of the Correspondence School for some subjects taken only by a few pupils in the school. The University has also given notice of its intention to require students for the University Entrance Scholarship Examination to take five subjects from a revised list. This move has already brought some protests ; but it also received powerful support because it will tend to ensure that the student going to the University after a second year in the Sixth Form will have a broader basis on which to build his specialist University course. This decision of the University will also have the inevitable effect of modifying some Sixth Form courses. Another development within the University is at the moment the cause of much greater concern in the schools. The University colleges affiliated to the University of New Zealand have been given in recent years an increasing measure of control over the subjects they teach and the courses they require students to follow. The point has now been reached where it appears that different courses for a degree in arts or science mav be required by the four University colleges, including requirements that are not foreshadowed in the Statutes of the University itself. There is evidence, for example, that in one or two of the colleges a degree in arts must include a foreign language unit. The effect on the schools may be much the same as if a foreign language unit were required in University Entrance —a requirement from which we escaped only a few years ago. Developments will be watched with great interest, and no little concern ; for New Zealand is a country with a fairly fluid population, and a student who has gained his University Entrance qualification may find it convenient to carry out his University studies in any one of the four main colleges, or indeed, in more than one of them. When the University of New Zealand laid down the requirements for a degree, this was no handicap ; but if the four colleges are to have different requirements, then the lot of the student will be unhappy. The principal of a school in the Auckland district will feel impelled to develop courses which lead towards a degree in the Auckland University College ; but he may also have to keep an eye on the degree course in Victoria University College because so many of his students will migrate to Wellington for employment. There is already a large measure of specialization in the University colleges, for example, in medicine, engineering, home science, architecture, and agriculture. Each of these faculties has obvious requirements that the schools can meet easily enough if the student stays at school for a year after passing University Entrance; but the introduction of varying requirements in faculties that are found in all four colleges may easily lead to confusion. It is obvious that the colleges realize some of the difficulties and are prepared to meet them ; but the schools must undoubtedly watch these developments very carefully over the next few years.

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