NATURE 



l2l 



THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1892. 



A PROFESSORIAL UNIVERSITY OF 

 LONDON. 



THE recent history of the London University question 

 affords decisive proof that the new University, 

 which is to be the outcome of the labours of the Royal 

 Commission now sitting, must be much more than a 

 merely exclusive or merely local institution. Of the two 

 main objects of a University in any English sense of the 

 expression — the promotion of the higher education, and 

 the advancement of learning — both must be equally sub- 

 served ; and neither will be attained if the new University 

 be established on other than the broadest possible basis, 

 or if its development be controlled and hindered by 

 rivalries that could not but become of an ignoble cha- 

 racter. In the course of discussion it has been made 

 abundantly clear that a duplication of Universities in 

 London would be a misfortune of the first magnitude, divid- 

 ing resources and diverting energies into channels that 

 would lead to many undesirable results. It is equally clear 

 that a University, consisting of a federation of local 

 educational institutions existing within the same narrow 

 area, would be wanting both in unity and force : its govern- 

 ment would tend to become a succession of compromises 

 effected between the interests, almost wholly of a financial 

 nature, of its constituent Colleges. It may, then, be taken 

 as a conclusion accepted by the great majority of those 

 who have given special attention to the subject that there 

 should be one University, and one only, in London, and 

 that it should not be of a federal character. To this posi- 

 tion it is a simple corollary that the government of the 

 proposed University should be vested mainly in a profes- 

 sorial body. Much the most important work of the 

 University would be the enactment of curricula and 

 syllabuses and the control of teaching and examination 

 — work that can only be efficiently performed by 

 those specially familiar with the subjects taught. 

 With the Professors a proper number of Crown nominees 

 should be associated to act as moderators and as repre- 

 sentatives of general educational policy, as well as to 

 guard the interests and assure the continued confidence 

 of the public. With the mode of creation and with the 

 functions of the usual Faculties, and with the details of 

 examinational systems, we need not at present concern 

 ourselves. In fact, the less the new University is fettered 

 by any Charter or Act the better, and it would be a mis- 

 fortune were the precedent followed of the complicated 

 and minutely detailed Charter recently rejected by the 

 Convocation of the London University. On that occasion, 

 it must be admitted, Convocation made good use of its 

 veto, but its continued possession of such a power would, 

 we think, be a source of disquiet and danger, without any 

 corresponding advantage to Convocation itself, or the 

 University — especially a professorial University — or in- 

 deed to the public. A much more useful provision 

 would be the grant of a power of appeal to some such 

 Committee of the Privy Council as that by whose 

 aid the Scotch Universities are enabled to settle their 

 differences. 



NO. 1 1 80, VOL. 46] 



The possibility of any such University as we have in- 

 dicated above ever coming into existence— and for a 

 University of any other kind it is scarcely worth while to 

 exert oneself— depends largely on the good will of the 

 existing Colleges. They must follow the capital example 

 set by Bedford College, and signify their willingness to 

 be merged in and become part of a true London University 

 with such reservations in respect of particular portions of 

 their collegiate work as may be necessary. As far as 

 the professorial staffs of these Colleges are concerned, 

 there can be little doubt but that they would hail such an 

 event ; but it is possible that the governing bodies may 

 take a different view. And with regard to the Medical 

 Schools, the reservations touching their purely pro- 

 fessional work, must, from the nature of the case, be 

 extensive. 



Though, for the moment, the question of a new Univer- 

 sity is chiefly interesting from the point of view of science 

 and medicine, what for the sake of brevity may be termed 

 the arts aspect of the question must not be neglected. 

 There are very few science students who do not follow — 

 and follow of necessity — special courses of instruction in 

 fairly equipped laboratories ; but the arts student is less 

 constrained in his mode and course of study — he has, 

 indeed, in London less opportunity of benefiting by ade- 

 quate instruction in the subjects of his studies. The 

 stimulus to every form of education that the new Uni- 

 versity may be expected to give will supply this de- 

 ficiency ; but meanwhile, and probably to a greater or 

 less extent always, the case of the "private student' 

 in arts will have to be considered. We shall not 

 enter upon it here. Our object in mentioning the 

 case of the arts student is rather to show that the 

 interests of the two great divisions of human knowledge 

 are at one in the matter of the proposed University. It 

 may be added that the " private student " difficulty, so 

 far as it exists, should be left to be dealt with by the new 

 University. It is limited in character, though extensive 

 in scope, and is very far indeed from being insurmount- 

 able. 



To resume. We are entirely in favour of a single 

 non-exclusive London University, mainly, or at least 

 adequately, of a professorial character — which by no 

 means necessarily involves the extreme teacher-examiner 

 system— controlling both teaching and examination, and 

 being or becoming, by absorption or otherwise, homo- 

 geneous in interest, and in the highest degree authoritative 

 in function. All these features are entirely novel ; they are 

 not, we believe, possessed by any British University. And 

 herein lies the practical difficulty now to be confronted. The 

 present opportunity for creating such a University is not 

 likely to recur, at all events for some generations to come. 

 What is to be done to make the best of it ? The Royal 

 Commission is fully aware of the greatness of the task 

 committed to it, and has entered upon its labours in no 

 niggard, narrow, or unappreciative spirit. But the Com- 

 mission must be aided by educational opinion clearly 

 thought out and firmly expressed. It must have the sup- 

 port of the London University, of the great Colleges, of 

 the Medical Schools, and of the professorial body in 

 London, who should be aided by the sympathy of their 

 brethren in the provinces— a sympathy, there is good 



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