4o8 



NATURE 



[March i, 1894 



University, whether the ultimate sources of their emolu- 

 ments were provided by it or by a College. The regu- 

 lation was probably intended to indicate a status, and 

 not to restrict the number of those who attained it, and 

 we hope it will be incorporated in the final scheme. But 

 if this is so, it must be admitted that the Association's 

 proposal is open to the second criticism which the Coin- 

 missioners pass upon it. It created, they say, a single 

 and undivided assembly of Teachers, on which, though 

 in subordination to the Court, it conferred not only 

 deliberative and consultative, but executive powers in 

 matters which must necessarily involve much detailed 

 and constant supervision. 



In opposition to this the Commissioners group the 

 Teachers into Faculties, and allow them to elect a very 

 important body to be called the Academic Council, It 

 is to consist, in addition to the Vice-Chancellor, of fifteen 

 members, chosen as follows : Arts 4, Science 4, Medicine 

 3, Law 2, Theology i. Music i. The term of service is to 

 be four years. Six to be a quorum. To this body will be 

 entrusted the duty of regulating, subject to the Ordi- 

 nances of the University, the teaching, examinations, 

 and discipline of the University, and of determining 

 what Teachers in any school of the University shall be 

 recognised as University Teachers, and to what Faculties 

 they shall be assigned. 



In addition to these executive functions, it will be its 

 duty to advise the Senate upon the affairs of the Uni- 

 versity, and particularly upon the assignment of funds 

 for the erection or extension of buildings and the 

 provision of teaching or equipment in connection with 

 admitted Institutions or otherwise, and upon a number of 

 similar points. 



It is evident that by the establishment of this Council 

 the Commissioners are prepared to give power to the 

 Teachers of the University with no ungrudging hand. 

 They assume that seats on the Academic Council will be 

 held only by men of unquestioned reputation and experi- 

 ence, whose views will command the respect of the 

 Senate. The Council is given very wide executive 

 powers and the right to advise on matters of the utmost 

 delicacy and importance. The only difficulty that we 

 see is the possible intervention of College jealousy. It 

 will be all-important that the men who are chosen 

 shall be not only eminent in their own lines of work, 

 but fair-minded and possessed of administrative 

 powers. If once the easy expedient of taking turns 

 is adopted, or if Professors working in University institu- 

 tions are boycotted in favour of those connected with Col- 

 leges, or wV^ T/^rjw, the Academic Council will be a failure. 

 These considerations will probably suffice to prevent 

 such evils arising ; and if so, we think it possible that the 

 Academic Council of the future University of London 

 may develop into a body of the utmost importance, and 

 that its views may acquire an authority which would 

 never be attained by the decisions of a large assembly, 

 many of the members of which would necessarily be 

 comparatively unknown men. It will thus be seen that 

 the Teachers of the University are to share in its govern- 

 ment in two different ways. First, they are in their Facul- 

 ties to elect one-third of the members of the Supreme 

 Body or Senate ; secondly, they are to elect fifteen of their 

 number to form an Academic Council with wide execu- 

 NO. 1270, VOL. 49] 



tive and advisory powers. It only remains to add 

 that machinery is also provided by which this Council 

 is to be kept in touch with the main body of the Teachers,. 

 For this purpose Boards of Studies are to be appointed, the 

 number and composition of which are to be determined 

 by the Academic Council, with the proviso that not less 

 than three -fourths of any Board are to be elected by the 

 Faculty to which it belongs, and the remainder (if any) 

 appointed by the Academic Council. These Boards are to 

 have advisory powers, and it is laid down that no rule 

 should be made with regard to or change effected in the 

 curricula unless it has either been recommended by the 

 Board or Boards of Studies of the Faculty concerned, or 

 has been submitted to them by the Academic Council for 

 consideration. It is also provided that in dealing with 

 the courses of study to be pursued at any Institution 

 it is reasonable that the Academic Council should first 

 consult the authorities of the Institution. In neither 

 case, however, is the Academic Council bound to con- 

 form itself to the view expressed by the bodies which it 

 consults. 



Such then, in general outline, is the scheme for the 

 government of the new University proposed by the 

 Commissioners. 



It is in many respects bold and drastic. The existing 

 Senate of the University of London is swept away. 

 Thus, and in our opinion very rightly, it is made 

 clear that the carrying into effect of the scheme of the 

 Commissioners would be an absolutely new departure. 

 It would be preceded by the complete dissolution of the 

 Governing Body of the present University, no single 

 member of which might find a place in the new order of 

 things. 



The Association, or some members of it, no doubt 

 desired that a similar act of renunciation should precede 

 the admission of a College to the University. Had this 

 desire been fulfilled the whole problem would have 

 been simplified, and the chances of success enor- 

 mously increased. It is still possible for the Govern- 

 ment to set the example in the case of the 

 Royal College of Science. University and King's 

 Colleges are, however, the results of private effort. It 

 would have been sheer confiscation to compel their 

 Governing Bodies to resign their functions, though we 

 believe that if they had sufficient confidence in the scheme 

 proposed by the Commissioners to do so, their last ser- 

 vice to learning and to education would surpass all the 

 good work they have done in the past. Assuming, how- 

 ever, that they continue to exist as independent organi- 

 sations, the most that can reasonably be urged is that 

 the scheme shall throw no impediment in the way of 

 absorption if all concerned should ultimately desire it. 

 The Commissioners have evidently been anxious to leave 

 the University as free as possible to develop in this as 

 in any other direction. In one point only — and in that 

 probably from inadvertence — have they imposed an un- 

 necessary restriction. Representation on the Senate 

 should not be allotted to particular Colleges, but to a 

 class of Institutions, the list of which is capable of being 

 revised with the approval of the Privy Council without a 

 change in the Charter. 



On the other hand, it must be admitted that the Com- 

 missioners, like the advocates of the Association Scheme^ 



