550 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



day in the Educational field of South Africa. May I be permitted 

 to say, however, that, however great the disadvantages of federation, 

 on the one hand, and of separation on the other, the greatest peril 

 to University Education in South Africa lies in the excessive multipli- 

 cation of institutions with poor endowment and small, underpaid and 

 over-worked staffs, and in the too lavish use of such high-sounding 

 titles as " University College " and " Professor " ; a course which, 

 if followed much further, would inevitably lead to a lowering of the 

 ideals of University teaching, and to such a change in the status of 

 the University teacher that South Africa will have great difficulty in 

 obtaining, as she must be in a position to do, the best men the Empire 

 can offer, to fill the academic chairs. 



Professor L. Crawford (Cape Town), who was the first speaker 

 on the paper, referred first to one or two points of detail. The 

 Huguenot College, he stated, was not entirely confined to lady 

 students. Male students w^ere also admitted, under certain condi- 

 tions. Then, again, in connection wdth Natal ; there was one 

 encouragement given in Natal to go on and take their students beyond 

 the Matriculation. There was a Mining Scholarship of £So for 

 four years, to enable a student to go through a complete mining 

 course. The examination for this was the Intermediate Examination 

 of the University of the Cape of Good Hope, so that all candidates 

 for this scholarship were forced to read for that examination. 



Proceeding to deal with the general question, the speaker took 

 it as hardly in need of further proof that the present system was 

 unsatisfactory, but, before passing on to the consideration of the 

 remedies proposed, he pointed out one existing drawback — the encour- 

 agement given by the present conditions to cramming. He could 

 speak from experience on this point, and could name various students 

 who, having taken things very easily for about three-quarters of the 

 time, had at the last moment, thanks to the possession of some ability, 

 crammed up and successfully passed the examination, and had been 

 granted precisely the same degrees as those who had done really 

 solid work throughout the whole course. Some check on the students 

 was necessary to ensure that every degree should imply honest work 

 throughout the whole course. 



With reference to affiliation, he would read the Memorandum of 

 the Rhodes University College, as he believed it was the fullest state- 

 ment hitherto made of the case for affiliation, and the best explana- 

 tion of what affiliation really meant. 



(The speiker here read the " Mem(5rnndum of the Council 



and Senate of the Rhodes University Reform.") 



Continuing, the speaker indicated the reasons which, in his 

 opinion, rendered an affiliation scheme useless. The only advantage 

 seemed to him to be that the Colleges were to be more directly repre- 

 sented on the Senate of the University. That would be an advantage, 

 provided the principle were extended. The Senate of the University 

 should not consist merelv of representatives of the Senates, but of 

 all members of the Senates ; these must be present for any discussion 

 of details. There was still to be a University Council, which would. 



