474 



NATURE 



[August 15, 1918 



departments of the United Kingdom. We shall be able 

 to do something to encourage a longer period of train- 

 ing by the offer of research studentships and the like ; 

 but that will not suffice. It is useless to offer scholar- 

 ships if competent candidates are not forthcoming, and 

 they cannot be forthcoming in sufificient numbers until 

 a larger number of well-educated students enter the 

 universities. That is the problem \^hich the educa- 

 tion departments have to solve, and on the solution of 

 which the success of the present movement, in our 

 opinion, largely depends." 



Sir J. J. Thomson's Committee confirms the state- 

 ment of the Advisory Council for Scientific snd Indus- 

 trial Research that the total annual output of tflhe 

 first- and second-class honours men in science and 

 engineering for all the English universities is little 

 more than 500. The total number of full-time men 

 students who entered the universities and university 

 colleges of England and Wales (excluding the medioaJ 

 schools) in the year 19 13-14 was no more than 4400, 

 and of these some hundreds were foreign students. It 

 is estimated that nearly half .this number were from 

 the public schools, from which about 5200 leave an- 

 nually at sixteen years of age or above, and 25 to 

 30 per cent, proceed to the universities. In the case 

 of the State-aided secondary schools, the numiber leav- 

 ing at sixteen years of age or above is approxirriately 

 S800; and the Government Committee estimates that 

 from 12 to 15 per cent, pass to a university. This 

 estimate is, however, probably too high, not more than 

 about 10 per cent, of such students proceeding to uni- 

 versities. As a rule, the State-aided secondary schools 

 devote more attention to science and other modern 

 studies than do the public schools ; and it is to them 

 that we must chiefly look for an increased supply of 

 university students to be trained as scientific workers. 



In order to determine the position of the United 

 Kingdom as regards education of a university standard 

 in comparison with those of the United States and 

 Germany, the conditions existing in the academic year 

 1913-14 — ^that is, immediately preceding the opening 

 of the war — have been analysed. The results show 

 that much remains to be done to increase the number 

 of university students from whom the supply of re- 

 search workers must chiefly be drawn. The number 

 of full-time students at the universities of the United 

 Kingdom in 19 13-14 was nearly 27,000, distributed 

 as shown in Table i. 



J. — Full-time Students at Universities of the United 

 Kingdom, 1913-14. 



Univer.'ities Students 



England ... 10 15,550 



Scotland ... ... ... 4 7»55o 



Ireland ... ... ... 3 2,470 



Wales I 1,140 



18 



26,710 



In comparing the number of students attending uni- 

 versities and technical institutions of like rank in 

 different countries, it is necessary, of course, to take 

 population into account. Also, in making any exaot 

 comiparison, the standard of the work at each uni- 

 versity should be known. It is very difficult to derive 

 these particulars from any published reports, but 

 sufficient facts are available to enable a general com- 

 parison to be made. Table 2 shows the number of 

 university students per 10,000 of population in the 

 United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. 

 Students at technical institutions of university rank 

 are included; and in the case of the United States 

 only students in the seventy-two universities, colleges, 

 and technical schools on the accepted list of the 

 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teach- 

 NO. 2546, VOL. lOl] 



ing. If all students taking four-year courses at these 

 institutions in the U.S. .A. were included, the number 

 and rate per 10,000 would be doubled. 



2. — Full-time Students at Universities and Higher 

 Technical Institutions, and Ratio to Population. 



Students in 

 Population ^ "■;:"•:«'.« , "''te per 



ana iicnnical io,coj 

 In&titutions 



United States ... 100,000,000 100,000 10 



Germany 65,000,000 90,000 13 



United Kingdom ... 45,000,000 29,200 b 



England 34,000,000 17,000 5 



Scotland 4,800,000 8,000 it» 



Ireland ... .. 4,400,000 3,000 6 



Wales 2,000,000 1,200 5 



The number of students in universities and technical 

 institutions of like rank may be taken as a rough index 

 of national regard for intellectual equipment and high 

 technical training. Judged by this standard, England 

 and Wales occupy the lowiest position among the 

 countries represented in the foregoing table. Both in 

 the United States and Germany there has been in recent 

 years an increase in the number of university students 

 far in excess of the increase oi population", whereas 

 before the war the reverse was the case in England 

 and Wales. While industrial prosperity has been ac- 

 companied by an increase in the proportion of univer- 

 sity students in the United States and Germany, the 

 rate of increase of such students in England and VVales 

 has diminished. 



The number of collegiate and resi<lent graduate 

 students in universities and other institutions of uni- 

 versity rank in the United States in 1913-14 was 

 210,500, made up of 139,400 men and 71,100 women. 

 The number annually completing four-year courses and 

 receiving bachelor degrees is about 26,000. In addi- 

 tion, in 19 13-14 there were conferred 5250 graduate 

 degrees and 520 doctorates of philosophy by examina- 

 tion. 



The number of students in the twenty-one universi- 

 ties of Germany in 1913-14 was about 68,000, 58,000 

 of whom were matriculated students. The distribu- 

 tion of the students in the different faculties is shown 

 in Table 3. 



3. — Number of Students in German Universities, 



1913-14. 



Faculty of Theology 



,, ,, Jurisprudence, etc. 



,, ,, Medicine 



,, , Philosophy 



Total matriculated students 

 Non-matriculated students 



Grand total ... 



No. of Student 



• 5^840 

 10,290 



. 16,300 



• 25,780 



68,110 



In regard to the number of students receiving 

 technological training of an advanced kind, the posi- 

 tion of England and Wales is even worse than that 

 shown by the proportion of university students. At 

 the Imperial College of Science and Technology there 

 were, in 19 13-14, 700 such students; at Cambridge the 

 number of candidates who presented themselves in th« 

 Natural Sciences Tripos, the Mechanical Sciences 

 Tripos, and various special examinations in other 

 branches of science was about 500 ; at Oxford the 

 number of students of Natural Science was about 300 ; 

 and at the Manchester College of Tecnnology, 285. 

 Most of the technical colleges in England and Wales 

 are connected with the universities of their respective 

 areas. Others provide technical institution courses 

 approved by the Board of Education for students above 



