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THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1921. 



Editorial and Publishing OffUts: 



MACMILLAN &■ CO., LTD., 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON. W.C.2. 



Advertisements and business letters should be 



addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial communications to the Editor. 





Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS. LONDON. 

 Telephone Number: CERRARD 8830. 



University Appeals. 



A FEW weeks ago announcement was made 

 that in a lightning campaign the sum of 

 1,580,000/. had been obtained as a centennial 

 endowment fund for McGill University, Montreal. 

 The amount subscribed exceeded what the cam- 

 paign was started to raise, and it included con- 

 tributions of one million dollars each from the 

 Government of the Province of Quebec and the 

 Rockefeller Foundation. 



There have recently been three similar appeals 

 for funds for university institutions in this 

 country ; but, whatever may be the ultimate result, 

 they have not yet been marked by the ready 

 and overflowing aid rendered to McGill Univer- 

 sity. In October last the University of Birming- 

 ham appealed for 500,000!. to relieve the finan- 

 cial strain under which it is working, and in 

 December the University of Leeds, as well as the 

 University Colleges of Newcastle-upon-Tyne — the 

 College of Medicine and Armstrong College — each 

 asked for a like amount to enable them to adjust 

 themselves to the conditions in which they have 

 been placed by the devaluation of monetary stand- 

 ards, greatly increased expenses, and an over- 

 whelming influx of students. Scarcely a single uni- 

 versity can now meet its financial obligations, and 

 all of them need additional funds to provide ac- 

 commodation in the form of lecture-rooms and 

 l.iboratories and new members of the teaching staff 



I) bring the classes within reasonable proportions. 



It is not generally realised outside university 



institutions how greatly the number of students 



HI them has increased since the war. In the year 



1 91 2-1 3 the number of university students in the 

 NO. 2674, VOL. I06] 



British Isles was roughly 27,000, or just under six 

 per ten thousand of the population. At the pre- 

 sent time the number is more than 40,000, and is 

 approaching one per thousand of the population. 

 There are about as many ex-Service men alone 

 undergoing some form of higher education in 

 universities and colleges, with the assistance of 

 Government grants, as the total number of whole- 

 time university students in these islands before 

 the war. To some extent, no doubt, the increase 

 represents an accumulation of students who were 

 prevented by active service from taking the uni- 

 versity courses they had contemplated; but even 

 allowing for this, there is decided evidence that a 

 growing desire exists for the highest and best 

 education the country can provide. 



The fees paid by university students can never 

 represent more than a moderate fraction of the 

 total income. In the year 1913-14 the total 

 income of colleges and institutions of university 

 standing in England in receipt of grants from the 

 National Exchequer was about 700,000/., of which 

 28 per cent, was derived from tuition fees and 

 34 per cent, from the State. In Welsh institu- 

 tions 27 per cent, of the total income came from 

 fees and 55 jjer cent, from the State. (At that 

 time, therefore, the greater part of university edu- 

 cation in England and Wales could have been 

 freed from all fees by an additional sum of about 

 20o,oooi.) Details are not available to show 

 similar proportions at the present time, but it is 

 probably correct to say that students' fees provide 

 about 30 per cent, of the income of university 

 institutions. 



This contribution is much higher relatively than 

 that made by students in State-aided institutions 

 in the United States. At Cornell University in 

 191 4-1 5 the fees were 20 per cent, of the income; 

 at the University of California 10 per cent. ; and 

 at Oklahoma only 2 per cent. On an average, 

 the proportion of tuition fees to the incomes of 

 our universities is at least three times that of like 

 institutions in America. It would be unreason- 

 able, as well as detrimental to the best national 

 interests, therefore, to suggest that our univer- 

 sities might look for additional income by increas- 

 ing the charge for the education provided. 



The sources from which the necessary funds 

 must be obtained are private benefactions, local 

 authorities, or the Treasury. It must be confessed 

 that with regard to the first of these we are far 

 behind the New World. In the three years 1916- 

 19 the universities of the British Isles received 

 in gifts from private bodies and individuals a little 



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