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THE POPULAE EDUCATOR. 



THE UNIVEKSITIE S. V. 



CAMBRIDGE. III. 



IN our last article upon this University we alluded to the fact 

 that the Senate are now admitting students to the University 

 who are not members of colleges. The fact and of course it is 

 of some importance that this is intended to diminish the cost 

 of University education, makes it necessary that we should 

 notice it rather more fully. 



The scheme which is at present in operation provides for the 

 appointment of a board which shall stand to non- collegiate 

 students in the same relation as the college stands to its 

 own members i.e., it shall maintain order amongst them, and 

 see that they are duly informed as to all that is required of 

 them ; to manage all accounts of the fees received, and present 

 them in due time for admission to degrees. 



In reference to tne students themselves, it is provided that 

 all laws and regulations at present in force with regard to 

 collegiate students shall apply to the non-collegiate. They are 

 entitled to be matriculated, examined, and admitted to degrees 

 in exactly the same way as others, the officers of the above- 

 mentioned board taking the place of the praelectors and tutors 

 of the colleges. They have to reside with their parents or in 

 lodgings, licensed by the present lodging-house syndicate, and 

 are under the government of the University rules so far as they 

 apply to lodging-houses. They are under the jurisdiction of 

 the vice-chancellor and proctor, and are required also to pay 

 due obedience to all academical regulations. The unattached 

 student pays upon entrance 2 as caution money to the censor 

 of the University, and the fee on matriculation is 15s. At the 

 commencement of every term each student pays to the above 

 board the sum of 35s. Other University fees remain the same 

 as for ordinary members of colleges. 



It is obvious that this scheme reduces the expense of living 

 at Cambridge to something very little more than that in London 

 or elsewhere. 



But it must be remembered that no provision for education 

 is included in the above payments. The system is not intended 

 to include this, but to enable poor students, and students of 

 special subjects, to curtail their social expenses as much as 

 they please. As such, the scheme is deserving of every com- 

 mendation. 



We pass now from the University proper to the influence 

 which it extends throughout the country by means of its local 

 examinations, both for boys and girls. They are intended chiefly 

 for the advantage of the middle-class schools, for whom there 

 exists no organised system of inspection, such as the Privy 

 Council provide for schools of a lower class ; nor any recognised 

 criterion of merit, such as the universities supply for schools of 

 a higher class. They enable schoolmasters to send in for 

 examination either whole classes or chosen representatives, and, 

 by attracting to various centres the youth from all parts of 

 England, they provide a largeness of competition which makes 

 them a valuable test of excellence, and a powerful stimulus to 

 increased exertion. 



The syndicate appointed for the purpose undertake to conduct 

 an examination at any place where a local committee, formed for 

 the purpose, will guarantee at least twenty-five candidates. If 

 girls are to be examined as well as boys, it is necessary that 

 there should be a committee of ladies, one of whom will under- 

 take the office of local secretary. 



This committee will have to see to the proper accommodation 

 of all students not resident in the place of examination ; to pro- 

 vide a suitable room for the examination, separate from that in 

 which the boys are examined ; and to send a responsible repre- 

 sentative to be present during the time of examination. 



The University fee, whether for boys or girls, is 1 per 

 candidate, and the local committee have the power to charge an 

 additional fee to cover their own expenses. After each examina- 

 tion, the students who pass with credit, or satisfy the examiners, 

 are entitled to receive certificates to that effect, which also 

 specify the subjects in which the student has been examined. 

 The names are also published in three alphabetical honour 

 classes, and a list appended of those who merely pass. In 

 determining the classes, account is taken of every part of the 

 examination, provided that in that part the student has obtained 

 more than a certain fixed minimum of marks. Eegard is had 

 throughout to the handwriting and spelling. # 



