November 2, 191 1] 



NATURE 



29 



its grant in aid of tiie University of Birmingham from \d. 

 to id. rate. The exact amount of increased support tlius 

 given to the University is, however, for the moment un- 

 certain, because the University has been required by the 

 municipality to devote an as yet indeterminable portion of 

 the additional grant to the establishment of maintenance 

 allowances and scholarships to poor students. Since the 

 f^s paid by students never equal the cost of the education 

 they receive, it follows that the net amount of the in- 

 creased aid to the University will be something less than 

 the difference between the gross increase and the sum 

 devoted to maintenance allowances and scholarships. If, 

 as there is reason to hope will be the case, the grant is 

 continued at the higher level for future years, the extension 

 of the boundaries of the city will lead to a further increase 

 in the amount received by the University unless this addi- 

 tional income has to be expended on scholarships or 

 bursaries. The Corporation of Newcastle-upon-Tyne has 

 recently made an additional grant of 1500Z. a year for five 

 years to Armstrong College. This additional grant is the 

 more noteworthy because it has been made for the special 

 purpose of developing the faculty of arts, a faculty which 

 does not, as a rule, appeal so directly to local sympathies 

 as do the faculties of pure and applied science. 



The problem of university education in the metropolis 

 does not grow easier as time advances ; the need for that 

 help and guidance which only a well-organised university 

 can afford increases yearly. The many independent institu- 

 tions and authorities working in the field of operations 

 are conscious, each in its own way, of the growing demand 

 for instruction of a high order, and of the urgent necessity 

 for increased m.-='ans of providing it, and it is not to be 

 wondered at if they attack the problem as best they may, 

 without considering too closely the effects of their action 

 upon their neighbours. Yet no satisfactory issue is possible 

 on these lines. The Board is endeavouring for the 

 moment to avoid encouraging this confusion, but nothing 

 really far-reaching can be attempted until after the Royal 

 Commission appointed in 1909 has completed its labours. 



This need for a proper scheme of coordination is perhaps 

 especially urgent in the case of higher technological and 

 professional work; it is .not confined to London. Until the 

 problem has been adequately dealt with, it is almost 

 impossible to deal wisely with even the most urgent claims 

 for further development. Yet there is undoubtedly a great 

 need for considerable further provision of the highest type 

 of instruction. The fifth annual report of the British 

 Science Guild contains certain rough comparisons between 

 the number of properly equipped day students attending the 

 technische Hochschulen in Germany and the numbers of 

 day students doing work of a kind more or less comparable 

 in this country. The comparison shows that after making 

 full allowance for the larger population of Germany, there 

 are more than twice as many such students in Germany as 

 in Great Britain and Ireland. If the inquiry could be 

 more exact, and if only those students in this country were 

 included who had received the same amount of previous 

 general education, and were giving the whole of their 

 time to higher technical studies, it is certain that the com- 

 parison would be even less favourable. 



But if the problem in regard to technology is to discover 

 how to make a wise increase in the amount of provision 

 without the incidental waste which comes from unnecessary 

 overlapping between competing institutions, the problem 

 in connection with medical education is quite different. 

 What is needed here is concentration and coordination of 

 effort and the greater efficiency that will then alone be 

 possible. There is probably more than sufficient provision 

 made for medical education in these islands ; it is a ques- 

 tion whether, even now, after years of shrinkage in the 

 numbers of men entering the medical profession, the out- 

 put is not still in excess of the national needs. Nowhere 

 is this excess of provision more evident than in the mptro- 

 polis. The difficulties inherent in the position ar^ obvious, 



Earticularly at the present moment, when public opinion 

 as not yet been fully informed as to the true relationship 

 between the hospital and the medical school, or as to the 

 invaluable services which a progressive school renders not 

 only to the treatment of the sick poor, but also to the 

 national medical service. To the rlospnr^s of this relation- 

 ship, on the other hand, is due thn facilities for nrress to 



clinical study which London offers to a greater degree than 

 any place in the world. Any change which endangered this 

 advantage would be very dearly bought. 



Of the twenty-three general medical schools in England, 

 all but five (including Oxford and Cambridge) have now 

 applied to the Board for grants in aid of the instruction 

 they give. It is hoped it may be possible to include in the 

 next volume of these reports returns from the medical 

 schools in receipt of grant from the Board analogous to 

 those now received from universities and university colleges 

 in receipt of aid from the Exchequer. It is not unreason- 

 able to anticipate that these reports will afford a valuable 

 basis for a general consideration of the many problems in 

 regard to medical education existing at the present 

 time. 



Reference was made in the introductory report last year 

 to the tutorial classes which have been established on the 

 initiative of the Workers' Educational Association. 

 Although, as explained in that report, the education given 

 in these classes cannot properly be called university educa- 

 tion, yet the universities have throughout been so closely 

 connected with their organisation that some further refer- 

 ence to them seems not inappropriate. During the current 

 session there are nearly seventy of these classes at work, 

 or nearly double the number in existence last session. The 

 rapid growth of the classes continues to afford undoubted 

 evidence of the extent to which they are meeting a real 

 need. Further development was made last year, when a 

 summer school was established for the first time. The 

 school was held in Oxford during July and August, and 

 was intended for students who had attended tutorial classes 

 during the previous session. As students could only remain 

 for a week, or at most a fortnight, the lectures and instruc- 

 tion for each week were arranged to deal with a particular 

 subject or group of subjects. An important part of the 

 students' work consisted in writing essays, which were sub- 

 sequently read and discussed with special tutors. The 

 arrangements were necessarily somewhat experimental, but 

 there seems little doubt that the students greatly appreciated 

 the establishment of the school, and derived much benefit 

 from it. Grants were paid by the Board of Education in 

 aid of the classes held during the session 1909-10, and also 

 in respect of the summer school. During the session the 

 Board arranged for a special inspection of some of the 

 classes, and the report was subsequently made public. The 

 report fully confirmed the high opinion already existing as 

 to the value of the classes. 



The accompanying table presents an analysis of the 

 students under instruction in England and Wales during the 

 academical year 1909-10. The revised form in which the 

 returns of students has been compiled by the universities 

 has rendered it possible to make this table more detailed 

 than before. The table also gives more accurate figures 

 than have been hitherto available as to the number of 

 students being prepared by university institutions for 

 matriculation examinations. 



The number of part-time students of all kinds in England 

 reaches the large figure of more than 13,700, or more than 

 half again as large as the number of whole-time day 

 students. Only about 1200 of these were reading for 

 degrees or attending post-graduate courses. A considerable 

 proportion of the remainder only attended short courses ; 

 but even so it is evident that there is as yet no sign of any 

 relative decrease in the demand being made upon the uni- 

 versities for work which, excellent and useful as it is, can- 

 not be described as university work in the strict sense of 

 the term. It is to be hoped that as time goes on, and as 

 the secondary schools of the country make their influence 

 more clearly felt, the relative growth in the number of full- 

 time students properly equipped for university studies will 

 increase. 



The number of day students under seventeen js but 

 2-:; per cent, of the total, and the number under eighteen 

 is less than 10 per cent, of the whole number of day 

 students. These figures are encouraging, and as compared 

 with the figures for ten years ago, if these could be 

 obtained, would probably show an increase in the age at 

 which the majority of the students are entering upon 

 university courses now. In proportion as the length of 

 school lif-" in the secondary school'^ inrr(>n-<-;, (1k> p^r- 

 cfntngr> of day students entering (h.- univ(i>iii( s undrr 



NO. 2192, VOL. 88] 



