NATURE 



701 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1920. 



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University Grants. 



A FEW weeks ago (June 17, p. 477) reference 

 was made in these columns to the financial 

 position of the Universities and institutions of 

 University rank, and a plea was put forward for 

 more adequate Government financial support. We 

 are not unmindful that the Government has 

 already recognised that it has responsibilities in 

 this respect, but we greatly doubt whether it has 

 fully realised their extent. The majority of these in- 

 stitutions are of comparatively recent foundation, 

 and from the first have led a precarious existence ; 

 restricted resources and even poverty have almost 

 uniformly been their lot. Nevertheless, they have 

 ministered to the needs of higher education in a 

 truly remarkable way ; they have helped this 

 country to hold its own in the face of world 

 competition, and materially contributed to its 

 success in the Great W'ar. This being so, one 

 would think that the encouragement and develop- 

 ment of higher education would be among the 

 first and primary cares of the Government. While 

 we believe that this really is the intention, yet, if 

 we may judge from certain proposals recently 

 made, the Government does not fully appreciate 

 the present state of affairs in the Universities. 

 Apart from the question of new and additional 

 accommodation due to the great influx of students, 

 and altogether apart from the necessities of in- 

 ternal development which are yearly becoming 

 more and more insistent, there stand out the 

 dominant facts that the great body of University 

 teachers are quite inadequately remunerated, and 

 that there are no really practicable sources which 

 can be tapped to provide proper and adequate 

 emoluments for them. It is within our knowledge 

 that the present economic position is pressing most 

 severely upon a large number of University 

 teachers, and that the financial position of many 

 Universities is precarious. 



If there is one thing more than another which 

 NO. 2649, VOL. 105] 



has been insistently pressed upon the University 

 Grants Committee on its visitations — and, we are 

 glad to say, has uniformly received a sympathetic 

 hearing — it is this question of inadequate re- 

 muneration. A University is essentially a corpora- 

 tion of men and women, and if the teaching side 

 of this corporation is dissatisfied or labours under 

 a sense of injustice, its work loses its spontaneity 

 and efficiency, and the interests of higher educa- 

 tion, and with them those of the nation, 

 will suffer in consequence. Obviously this is a 

 truism which need not be laboured. When men 

 and women have to eke out inadequate stipends 

 by extraneous work the effects, though almost 

 imperceptible at first, are bound to be serious in 

 the long run. But this is not all. Inadequate 

 remuneration reacts unfavourably upon the supply 

 of efficient teachers. Talented young students will 

 look elsewhere for their life's work. Already, as 

 we have indicated on a previous occasion, the 

 financial inducements of industry have depleted 

 the Universities of some of their ablest teachers, 

 and there are no uncertain indications that this 

 depletion is likely to become more serious still. 



Now, the Chancellor of the Exchequer recog- 

 nises that the Government must do mor^ and 

 he proposes to ask Parliament to increase th€ 

 Treasury grant-in-aid from i,ooo,oooZ. to 

 i,5oo,oooZ. in the Estimates for 1921-22. He 

 does not propose to ask for any supplementary 

 grant this year. We respectfully submit that this 

 proposal Is totally inadequate. As a matter of 

 fact, we would point out that Parliament is not 

 to be asked for a larger sum than is given this 

 year; what is proposed is simply to make the 

 non-recurrent 500,000^. recurrent. We repeat 

 that such a sum is totally inadequate for present 

 needs. A recent statistical inquiry instituted by 

 the Association of University Teachers has elicited 

 the fact that the average salary at present paid 

 to an assistant lecturer is 250Z. ; to a lecturer, 

 366Z. ; and to a professor, 800Z., from which, of 

 course, must be deducted the superannuation 

 premiums of 5 per cent, or so. When we con- 

 sider the largely increased salaries paid to teachers 

 in other branches of the profession, let alone the 

 inducements offered in industry, it is obvious that 

 such average salaries will not attract the right 

 type of teacher to the University in the future. 

 We repeat that the proposed grant-in-aid is abso- 

 lutely inadequate under present economic con- 

 ditions, and would respectfully urge upon the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer to reconsider the 

 whole question. 



If this is the case regarding the general financial 



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