722 

NATURE 
[May 26, 1923 
Conference of Universities. 
the programme of the annual conference of the | 
N 
It universities of the Unitéd Kingdom, which was 
field on May 12 at King’s College, London, the first 
place was given to the subject of the financial outlook 
of the universities. The income and expenditure 
for 1921-22 of the universities and university colleges 
of Great Britain in receipt of annual Treasury grants 
are displayed in Tables 7 and 8 of the returns recently 
published by the University Grants Committee. The 
aggregate income of these institutions (Oxford and 
Cambridge are excluded from the returns, their 
grants having been “ special emergency ”’ grants) is 
shown as 3,578,768/., derived from: Parliamentary 
grants (35°3 per cent.), Fees for tuition and examina- 
tion (35°7 per cent.), Local Authorities’ grants (11°7 
per cent.), Endowments (10°3 per cent.), Donations 
and Subscriptions (2°7 per cent.), and other sources 
(4°73 per cent.). Of expenditure 49°3 per cent. was 
on Salaries of Teaching Staff, 13°4 per cent. on 
other Departmental Maintenance, 13°1 per cent. 
on Maintenance of Premises, and 10°2 per cent. 
on Administration. 
The outstanding feature of the situation is the 
cramping of university activities owing to want of | 
“The grave condition of commerce and | 
funds. 
industry,’’ says the Committee, “‘ has temporarily 
called a halt to the forward movement which derived 
its impulse from the experience of the War: sucha 
halt was natural—perhaps inevitable—but it cannot 
be prolonged without arresting developments which | 
can only be neglected at grave risk to national 
efficiency.’”’ The Committee finds in the universities’ 
expenditure on their libraries an illustration of the | 
parsimony which they are compelled to practise. In 
a report dated February 3, 1921, the Committee 
directed special attention to the vital necessity of 
proper provision for library maintenance and declared 
that the character and efficiency of a university may be 
gauged by its treatment of this, its central organ, and | 
it now characterises the expenditure on libraries and 
museums in 1921-22 as ‘“‘ dangerously small.’’ The 
whole expenditure under this head was about as 
much as is spent on the upkeep of their libraries by 
the two universities of Chicago and California. The 
Committee is satisfied that at practically all the 
universities the greatest care has been taken to limit | 
expenditure to essentials, and to get full value out 
of every pound spent. It follows that if the develop- 
ments so urgently necessary for national efficiency 
are to take place, the universities’ incomes must be 
augmented. 
The discussion at the conference followed generally 
the lines of Dr. Adami’s paper read at the Universities’ 
Congress of 1921, and was directed especially to the 
question how far it is possible and desirable to obtain 
increases of annual grants from Local Authorities. 
Sir Theodore Morison suggested that provincial 
universities may be regarded as beneficial alike to 
(1) their students, (2) the cities they are located in 
and the surrounding districts, and (3) the nation ; 
and that where more than two-thirds of the university’s 
income is obtained from the students and the nation, it 
is not unreasonable to look to local sources for an 
increase of their contribution. He adduced statistics 
showing that if cities which at present grant to their 
universities less than the produce of a penny rate, and 
counties and neighbouring boroughs which make 
grants equal to less than a halfpenny rate, were to 
increase their grants to these standards respectively, 
the English provincial universities would benefit to 
the extent of 55,000/., or 4 per cent. of their total 
incomes; there are, moreover, a number of counties | 
NO. 2795, VOL. T11] 

and boroughs within the spheres of influence of 
universities which do not at present make grants to 
them. Nor should it be difficult to convince local 
bodies of the great value to their constituents of a 
flourishing university in their midst. The services 
the universities can render to local communities may 
not be measurable in terms of money, but are not the 
less substantial, among them being assistance in the 
scientific development of local industries and the 
fostering of a spirit of regional independence. General 
appreciation on the part of local authorities of the 
value of such services should go far to minimise the 
dangers, to which attention was directed by several 
speakers at the conference, of dependence on grants 
out of rates. 
With the exception of a remark by the president 
of the Board of Education to the effect that he 
believed the race of “‘ pious donors” is not yet 
extinct, no suggestion was made as to the possibility 
of increasing endowments. The income from endow- 
ments not appropriated to specific purposes is shown 
in the Grants Committee’s tables to amount at present 
to 155,230/., or 4 per cent. of the total income; 
the income from appropriated endowments is 
215,350l. Several speakers acknowledged the in- 
estimable value of the services to the universities of 
Sir William McCormick’s Committee in helping them 
to meet the crisis in their finances produced by the 
War. The president of the Board of Education, 
while assuring the universities that there is at present 
no disposition in Parliament to challenge their 
autonomy, observed that they would always need to 
be on their guard against claims that with the exten- 
sion of State aid should go extension of State control. 
In opening the discussion on ‘‘ Music as a University 
Subject,’’ Sir Henry Hadow made a vigorous plea for 
full recognition by the universities of the study of 
musical works as being on a par with, if not a 
part of, literature. This recognition would involve 
its acceptance as an optional subject for the B.A. 
degree. The discussion brought to light the fact 
that alike in London, in Wales, and in Scotland, the 
recognition of music as an optional subject for 
matriculation is being considered, and that the 
northern English universities’ joint matriculation 
board has adopted, and the Oxford and Cambridge 
schools examination board is considering, an 
adequate music syllabus for their school certificate 
examination. 
The discussion on ‘‘ The Universities and Training 
for Administrative and Municipal Life,’ opened by 
Sir William Beveridge, who was ably followed by 
“ce 
| Sir Josiah Stamp, showed that the liveliest interest is 
being taken in this subject both within and without 
the universities, and that this has been greatly 
stimulated by the establishment last year of the 
Institute of Public Administration. Most of the 
speakers were in favour of the universities providing 
in this connexion, not preliminary professional 
training, but courses suitable for persons who have 
already entered on their official careers. The courses 
would be framed in consultation with representatives 
of central and local government authorities with the 
view of junior officials being released from their 
ordinary duties for attendance on them. 
Mr. Arthur Greenwood, M.P., spoke on ‘‘ Labour 
and the Universities,’ and a paper by the Master of 
Balliol on extra-mural education was read. 
The discussions were marked throughout by an 
animation which proved that the subjects were well 
chosen. A report of the proceedings will, we are 
informed, be published by the Universities’ Bureau. 
ES EE 
TT 
