University Education. 553 



What was going to happen in regard to the private student ? 

 In South Africa we must expect to have the private student difficulty 

 with us for many years to come. No scheme could be regarded as 

 complete which did not in some way take into consideration the 

 private student. He did not think that in a federal scheme, an 

 external student, who had not studied at any College, should get the 

 same degree as a College student. They should be able to know in 

 some way whether a man had gone through a complete course at 

 College, or had merely taken a degree by examination. As to 

 Professor Jameson's suggestion in regard to the London examinations, 

 that might be adopted in connection with Arts ; it would, however, 

 rather encourage the private student, and he thought they should 

 rather try to induce men to enter the Colleges. 



Coming to the considerations involved in the proposal for separate 

 charters, he thought these were fairly well known. Prof. Jameson 

 had pointed out the danger of too many Universities — the possibility 

 of lowering the prestige, etc. He thought that the danger had been 

 a little exaggerated. South Africa, up to the Zambesi, was not by 

 any means a small place, and the fact that there might be six 

 Universities in Nova Scotia, which was in excess of its population, 

 was not a very strong argument against having perhaps in the future 

 six Universities in South Africa. He did not think there would be 

 the danger in the long run of lowering the degree. There might be 

 some such danger at the beginning, perhaps, but he was not sure of 

 that. He was, however, quite sure that if any such danger existed 

 at all, it would work itself out in an exceedingly short period. 

 Stress had been laid upon the danger in the United States, arising 

 from the number of institutions there. He thought, however, that it 

 was pretty well known which were the good degrees, and which the 

 bad. He believed that in practice that danger would to a large 

 extent disappear, and that it would be recognised which Colleges 

 were giving a good degree. 



He did not quite agree with what had been said as to the 

 lowering of the value of the University degree in the Old Country 

 owing to the number of Universities founded. In the old days, of 

 course, a University degree in the Old Country meant a degree at 

 Oxford or Cambridge. But Oxford and Cambridge degrees had_ a 

 certain value of their own, and might be left out of account in dis- 

 cussing the kind of Universities we should be likely to have out here. 

 The institutions founded in this country would approximate much 

 more nearly to the Scotch Universities or the newer Universities in 

 England. He believed that if there had been any slight lo\yering 

 in prestige — and that he doubted very much — bv the multiplication of 

 institutions granting degrees, it had been quite overborne by the fact 

 that the possibility of taking a real University course in the Old 

 Country was so much wider now than in past times. 



Rev. Dr. Kolbe (Cape Town) said the tone in which this question 

 was sometimes discussed seemed to imply that the members of the 

 University Council were a lot of old fogies, sitting in the seat of the 



