November 19, 1914] 



NATURE 



327 



Brought forward {Day) 4840 349 

 Evening. 



Degree ... 363 — 



\on-graduate ... 764 — 



Other courses ... ... 7576 — 



Post-graduate ... ... 255 — 



Total 13,798 349 



In England the total number of full-time students at 

 the.se institutions of higher education in 1912-13 was 

 7666, as compared with 7827, in the previous year, 

 rhe total number of part-time students has, on the 

 other hand, increased from 13,348 to 13,798. The fall 

 in the total number of full-time students is due to a 

 decrease of fifty-six in the number of training college 

 students and of 105 other students, making ibi in all. 

 The number of full-time post-graduate students has 

 risen by fifty-four, and the number of full-time diploma 

 .students by 103. On the other hand, there has been a fall 

 of 159 in the number of students reading for degrees, 

 and another of 159 in the number of students of under- 

 i^raduate standing who were not readir.g for a degree. 



It would appear, the report points out, that the rate 

 of increase in the number of full-time students has 

 been diminishing for some years past. The position 

 is not satisfactory' from the wider national point of 

 \ iew. There is little doubt that the commercial pros- 

 perity of the country during recent years has had a 

 good deal to do with this diminution in the number 

 of students who are seeking a university education. 

 Furthermore, the bulk of the parents of the boys and 

 girls in the State-aided secondary schools of the country 

 have little sense of the value of a university education. 

 Onlv a minoritv of these .schools send students to the 

 universities unless they happen to be placed in or very 

 near to the university towns. It is not-suggested that 

 it would benefit all bovs to go to a university without 

 regard to their means or their ability and without a 

 careful selection of their course of study, but there are 

 grounds for thinking that the demand for healthy and 

 able young men with a university training is begin- 

 ning to outrun the supply. The openings for adminis- 

 trators of various kinds and for teachers in the Indian 

 Empire and in the Crown Colonies are increasing in 

 number, while suitable candidates are not. Nor is the 

 demand confined to service abroad. 



The Royal Commissioners on the Civil Service are 

 evidently of opinion that the newer universities are not 

 contributing a due oroportion of candidates for the 

 Home Services. '•\\e should be glad," they say, "to 

 see the Scottish, the Irish, and the young English 

 and Welsh universities as.sert more vigorously their 

 claim to share in Civil Service appointments." That 

 they have not done so in the past is in part due, no 

 doubt, to the character of the examination, but it is 

 largely explained by the younger age at which their 

 students graduate — in itself evidence of a hurried 

 education — and partly by the diversion of some of the 

 brightest minds in the schools to the practical world 

 of business before the secondary stage of their educa- 

 tion is complete. It is doubtful whether even the 

 commerce of the country will benefit in the long run 

 by this impatience ; it is certain that the national and 

 Imperial Services lose the variety of training and up- 

 bringing which is to be desired in their recruits. 



By comparing the figures in England for 1911-12 

 with those for 1912-13 the following statistics are 

 obtained : — 



Students in V.ariols F.acilties. 



19 1-12 1911-13 



3529 •■ 3405 



1726 ... 1704 



2597 ... 2697 



1 105 1059 



347 • 361 



186 ... 206 

 ^-1 



.•\rts 



Science 



Medicine 



Engineering 



Technology 



Agriculture 



X-n -72X1 VOT 



This table shows the number of full-time students 

 in all institutions coming within the scope of the 

 report, arranged according to the faculties in which 

 the)' are studying. 



It will be noticed that the fall in students which 

 has been previously mentioned is confined to the facul- 

 ties of arts, science, and engineering. The greatest 

 actual fall is in the arts faculty, but the relative fall 

 is equally great in the faculty of engineering. In the 

 faculties of medicine, agriculture, and technology 

 there has been an increase. 



.\ge of .Vdmission of Full-time Students. 

 (1912-13.) 



England Wa es 



Number admitted ... ... 3241 371 



Percentage under 17 ... ... 49 1-6 



Percentage 17-18 ... ... 127 8-g 



Percentage 18-19 ... ... 245 323 



Percentage above 19 ... ... 57-9 572 



It should be pointed out that the number of students 

 under England in this table includes 257 students at 

 the nine medical schools of the University of London, 

 and forty-two students at the College of Medicine, 

 which is a constituent college of the University of 

 Durham. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Gl.asgo\v. — The L niversity has offered academic 

 hospitalitv to accredited teachers and students of Bel- 

 gian universities who have taken refuge in Glasgow. 

 The heads of the several departments will afford them 

 such facilities for study and research as it may be 

 found practicable to provide. 



The bequest of some i2,oooi., left for the depart- 

 ment of naval architecture under the will of the late 

 Dr. Francis Elgar, has now accrued to the Univer- 

 sitv. .\n equal amount is bequeathed to the Institu- 

 tion of Naval .\rchitects. 



Mr. .S. Mavor, of Glasgow, has presented to the 

 geological department a collection of more than 500 

 specimens, illustrative of the coal-beds of Great 

 Britain and the continent of Europe. 



Mr. .\. F'leck, formerly demonstrator to Prof. Soddy, 

 has been appointed physical chemist to the Glasgow 

 Radium Committee, established to administer 

 a large fund collected in the city for the purpose of 

 acquiring and distributing radium for therapeutic pur- 

 poses. A radiometric laboratory, under the auspices 

 of the committee, has been fitted up at the University. 



It is known that there are many Belgian medical 

 graduates refugees in this country' who may find it 

 difficult to obtain suitable accomm<xIation. To meet 

 this need the committee of the London School of 

 Tropical Medicine will be pleased to hear from Bel- 

 gian medical men who may desire to avail them- 

 selves of the hospitality of the school to the extent of 

 board and residence in the hostel attached thereto. 

 The Committee also invites any graduate so resident 

 to attend the various classes while the school is in 

 session. 



The first meeting of the re-constituted Agricultural 

 (previously Rural) Education Conference was held on 

 Tuesday, November 10, Lord Barnard being in the 

 chair. The conference appointed a committee, com- 

 posed partly of its own members and partly of women 

 co-opted for the special purpose, to consider the fol- 

 lowing reference received from the Board of Agricul- 

 ture and Fisheries : '■ To consider the provision made 

 in England and Wales for the agricultural education 

 of female students of sixteen years of age and up- 

 wards, and to report whether the existing facilities are 

 sufficient, and if not, to what extent and in what 

 direction these should be developed and improved." 



