

NA TURE 



201 



THURSDAY, OCTuiJi_K 14, 1920. 



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The Site of the University of London. 



THE Senate of the University of London will 

 at its next meeting- be called upon to make 

 a definite decision regarding- the Government's 

 offer of the Bloomsbury site. Mr. Fisher has in- 

 timated, and in our opinion not unreasonably, 

 that the offer cannot remain open longer. 



The matter has been very fully canvassed during 

 the recess, and the Senate has had leisure and 

 opportunity to consider the issues involved by 

 acceptance or rejection of the Government's offer. 

 For reasons which we have already given, we 

 most earnestly hope that the Senate will decide 

 to adopt the report of its sites committee, which, 

 it is understood, has with certain re.servations 

 recommended acceptance of the offer. The dis- 

 cussions of the last few months, so far as they 

 have been relevant, have served only to strengthen 

 our conviction that a refusal will mean the in- 

 definite postponement of a step which is both 

 urgent and necessary for the proper development 

 of the University. 



The fact that so much of the discussion has 

 been irrelevant and misinformed is in itself evi- 

 dence, if evidence were needed, of the failure of 

 the University to impress itself upon the imagina- 

 tion and intelligence of many who arc genuinely 

 concerned for higher education in London. Corre- 

 spondence in the Press has shown beyond doubt 

 that there does not exist any widespread know- 

 Jedge either of the magnitude of the present 

 tctivitics of the University, or of the nature of 

 present urgent needs. 

 NO. 2659, VOL, 106] 



The attention which has been given to the sug- 

 gestion that "The University" should migrate to 

 Hampstead is an illustration. Ken Wood is a 

 delightful spot, and entirely suitable for a resi- 

 dential college or for hostels. But a dozen Ken 

 Woods could not contain the teaching work of the 

 University, and, what is more, they are not wanted. 

 The University of London, or any University of 

 London, must permeate London. Its thousands 

 of students must be distributed, as they are now, 

 throughout London — in the incorporated colleges, 

 in the various " schools " from Kensington to 

 the Mile End Road, in all the great hospitals, 

 and in institutions easily accessible to evening 

 workers. This or some similar arrangement 

 is a necessity for a University of London, and 

 no one building, whether at Hampstead or 

 Bloomsbury or elsewhere, could or should contain 

 the teaching work of the University. 



The urgent needs of the University are, we take 

 it, two. They are the provision of suitable ad- 

 ministrative headquarters and of a new home for 

 King's College. The need for providing a unify- 

 ing and co-ordinating centre for the manifold 

 activities of the University is patent. The lack 

 of an adequate home peculiarly and distinctively 

 associated with it has been an obstacle to its pro- 

 gress since its reconstitution. The buildings at 

 South Kensington, dignified though they be, were 

 not designed for their present purpose; they are 

 not suitable for it, nor are they easily accessible. 

 Further, so long as they continue to be known as 

 "The Imperial Institute" rather than "The Uni- 

 versity," confusion must inevitably persist. 



The case is dear for a new building which shall 

 provide accommodation for the administration, for 

 the libraries, for examinations, and for a meeting 

 place where the multitudes of the teachers and 

 students of the University can come together for 

 business and recreation. 



The need for a new home for King's College is 

 no less pressing. It has long out-grown the 

 buildings in which it has lived for nearly a century, 

 and its removal to some other site is imperative. 



Bloomsbury is indisputably the most convenient 

 quarter Ixith for an administrative centre and for 

 the new home of King's College, and it is the 

 absence of any real alternative to it that is the 

 strongest argument in its favour. The accessi- 

 bility, the proximity of University College, and of 

 other university organisations, allow and en- 

 courage co-operation and obviate the waste of 

 time and the profitless wear-and-tear which are 

 inseparable from the present arrimgement. 



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