JOINT UNIVERSITY EXAMINING BOARD, 659 



in the republic of letters there should be as ready a recof^iiition as 

 possible of the members who belong to it, whithersoever they 

 may travel, and therefore it is that those who are the fortunate 

 possessors of degrees of recognised value are admitted ad eundem 

 (jradum without difficulty. Again, the population of Australia is a 

 vagrant and shitting one; young men especially do not here and 

 now feel themselves bound by a very close tie to the country of 

 their birth and education. It is only fair that they should be able 

 to claim the same pf)sition in the university of the land of their 

 adoption as they held in the land of their birth. But if their 

 degrees are not of equal value — are not a measure of the same 

 acquisitions — then it is plainly unfair and unjust that ad eiindems 

 should be grunted at all. 



In order to effect that which I am nov\r advocating it would first 

 o'' all be necessary that there should be a more or less generni 

 agreement on the general lines and the extent of the various 

 blanches of study. It is not my intention at this stage to go into 

 detail ; suffice it to say that I have compared the curricula of the 

 schools of the universities of Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, 

 and 1 do not find that there is any very great difficulty 

 to be anticipated on that score ; indeed, in some points in which 

 Adelaide is differentiated from the other two I feel sure that 

 wo shall have to make some alterations, and, indeed, I know 

 that others as Avell as myself have contemplated taking action in 

 this direction, and it is perhaps possible that our distinguished, 

 sisters of Sydney and Melbourne might find some points worthy of 

 imitation in the modest little University of Adelaide. Indeed, I 

 was informed not very long ago that Melbourne was discussing 

 the advisability of doing what was done here some years ago, viz., 

 abolishing the matriculation examination, and instituting others 

 analogous to our junior and senior examinations. The more each 

 university can learn from the others the better it will be, and if 

 by joint operation it will be possible to incorporate into one system 

 the peculiar advantages of the three it must prove a benefit 

 to all. 



1 come now to the consideration of the more paljiable advantages 

 which would flow from the adoption of some such scheme as I 

 have shadowed forth. 



1. In an indirect M'ay each university would benefit by the 

 learning of all the professors, the papers being the same and the 

 standard the same. The students would in those cases where at 

 present they are below the standard feel the necessity of making 

 efforts to reach it. 



2. The knowledge that the papers for his degree would be 

 referred to the most learned men in Australia, men unlcnown to 

 him, perhaps, except by reputation, and so not belittled by common 

 every-day acquaintance, could not fail to be a stimulus to more 

 thorough scholarship. 



