352 



NATURE 



[September 15, 1910 



Let me repeat that the views set out above are not 

 mine. They are those of. His Majesty's Consuls at stations 

 distributed over four continents. 



The Present Position and Needs. 

 I have now come to the last section of this paper. For 

 fear of being misunderstood, let me say at once that I 

 have no lack of respect for our ancient universities, and 

 that any appearance of such in this paper is quite un- 

 intentional. It would, indeed, be difficult to e.xaggerale 

 the share which our oldest universities have had in 'the 

 formative life of this country, and the worii of the past 

 is still necessary. Universities must continue tneir 

 detached work ; tney must pursue knowledge for its own 

 sake or for the purely mental training u gives ; they 

 must continue to produce statesmen and churchmen and 

 lawyers and doctors and schoolmasters, and they must 

 educate the leisured classes. I would even go so far as 

 to say that it is a national asset to have institutions 

 setting the standard of efficiency and honour in national 

 games. But the modern world needs something more, 

 especially from the departments of applied science. The 

 sympathy and support which these departments have 

 received from the public have, to a large extent, been 

 based on the belief that they would contribute to the 

 success of national industry and commerce. The satre 

 holds true of the large technical institutions with day 

 departments for young manhood. There is a public need, 

 and in some cases a public demand. It is our object to 

 increase the demand. 



I have no magician's wand to offer as a means of 

 revolutionising public opinion, and I should like to make 

 clear that I have no thought of advocating mere imitation 

 of German methods, which would be extremely foolish, if 

 not disastrous. The industrial and commercia'l conditions 

 and the character and traditions of the people of Britain 

 and Germany are dissimilar, .'\gain, the German universi- 

 ties endeavour to send out men ready to take their place 

 immediately, not in the ranks, but as officers in the 

 industrial and commercial armies. Further, the British 

 system of education is so different that not to give heed 

 to what exists would certainly court failure. Manv useful 

 lessons may, however, be gathered from a study ot German 

 methods ; but possibly our most useful lessons are to be 

 gathered from .America, where the character of the people 

 is more like our own, and where it is clearlv realised that 

 whatever training of the highest kind a man mav have, 

 he must still begin in the ranks and climb his way to the 

 top. It has been said that British character and methods 

 produce a few brilliant units and a mass of mediocrities. 

 The surest road to success would probablv be for the 

 mass of mediocrities to adopt the methods of the brilliant 

 units. 



The normal attitude of the employers, if not of the 

 public, may be expressed in three sentences :— (i) Only 

 those value higher education who have felt the need for it. 

 (2) The purely practical man can do much, the purely 

 theoretical man can do little ; a combination is therefore 

 necessary. Should one quality onlv be obtainable, which 

 would be regrettable, that quality should be the purely 

 practical. (3) Teaching institutions may assist individuals 

 to get on ; they form no essential part of our industrial 

 or commercial system. 



For these three sentiments I suggest that we are all 

 anxious to substitute three others : — (i) Setting aside 

 exceptions, every man who achieves success must give so 

 much time to fit himself for his work, whether the time 

 is given in college under guidance and discipline or is 

 r.'.xpended in self-education. (2) In the end, and again 

 letting aside exceptions, the man who has received the 

 highest training in college under guidance and discipline 

 will, other things being equal, achieve by far the greatest 

 success. (3) The work of research and training carried 

 on in technical school and university college is an integral 

 part of any nation's successful induslrial and commercinl 

 organisation. 



Organisation and Management. 

 How is the substitution to be accomplished? The 

 demand of the shareholders of an industrial or commercial 

 concern for dividends forms a great stimulus to intelli- 

 NO. 2133, VOL. 84] 



gence and activity on the part of the staff. Without such 

 stimulus in a technical school or faculty of applied scienc- 

 there is a tendency for things to become comfortable. 1 

 suggest the following : — 



(0 'i'he management of all technical institutions and 

 departments of applied science should be put on a busi- 

 ness footing. The ordinary governing bodies, as a rule, 

 serve for ordinary governing purposes. The chief need 

 IS that of consultative committees attached to all specialised 

 faculties or departments, such committees to be advisory 

 and to be composed of industrial or commercial leaders 

 or e.\perts of the highest reputation. This is probablv the 

 best and surest means of enlisting the full svmpathy of 

 industrial and commercial leaders. The faculty or depart- 

 ment, the curriculum and the examinations, would benefit 

 by having its work and methods criticised sympathetically 

 by experts of the first rank. Such a committee would 

 form the surest medium of communication between the 

 college and the workshop ; and its formation would 

 certainly be followed by a wide extension of the apprecia- 

 tion of the advantages of technical education, because the 

 captains of industry would learn exactly the character of 

 the work done in college and how in practice to utilise it. 



The head of the teaching department and his stafT would 

 by this means gain easy access to factory and workshop, 

 and bring back some of their atmosphere to the laboratory. 

 On the examining committee of the engineering depart- 

 ment of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical 

 college are the engineering director of the Fairfield Ship- 

 building and Engineering Co. and the engineering director 

 of John Brown and Co., Clydebank Shipbuilding and 

 Engineering Works. Such men would probably be gener- 

 ally recognised as the leaders in their particular profession 

 on the Clyde. I understand that it is their practice to 

 look in great detail through worked papers and designs, 

 and to give the engineering department of the college the 

 benefit of their criticisms. Employers, parents, and 

 students cannot but have faith in the instruction given in 

 an institution so aided. Let me make it quite clear that 

 I am not advocating a mixed governing body, but an 

 advisory committee of experts attached to each technical 

 department. Governing bodies should consult such 

 advisory committees before appointing the head of a 

 department or even the principal of a college or technical 

 institution. In the qualifications of principals and heads 

 of departments it is customary to give too much con- 

 sideration to academic status and too little to industrial 

 experience and business capacity. Such a consultative 

 body as I have referred to would act as a corrective in 

 this respect. 



(2) .'^ connection should be maintained with old students 

 and a record kept of their after-careers. One of th.' 

 means of success of the .American colleges is the list of 

 after-careers of their students. It is almost incredibl.- 

 how little has been done in Britain in this respect. 1 

 hope parents and the public generally will develop a habit 

 of asking for such a list. 



(3) At each technical institution and university there 

 should be an organisation to assist students in getting 

 placed. The Blue-book recently issued by the Board of 

 Education shows how much English universities have in 

 the past neglected this aspect of their work, and how- 

 much there is still to be done to establish appointments 

 committees or bureaus. I am not overlooking the fact 

 that much excellent work has been done by individual 

 pj-ofessors and occasionally by the secretary or the prin- 

 cipal. But this was unorganised. I am asking for an 

 organisation. The manufacturer and the merchant have 

 been denounced in no measured terms by representatives 

 of learning for their short-sightedness in not applving 

 scientific methods to manufacturing and business pro- 

 cesses ; could not the manufacturer and the business man 

 retaliate that not only have university and technical college 

 goods been of such various qualities that it was impossible 

 to discriminate, but also that scientific principles — even 

 common business empirical methods — have not been applied 

 to the marketing of school and college products? It is a 

 discredit to the universities and technical colleges that 

 they have so long neglected this obvious means of assist- 

 ing students, this obvious means of promoting the cause 

 they proclaimed. 



