NATURE 



457 



THURSDAY, MARCH 17, iS 



THE STATE AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

 r T is seldom that a Cabinet Minister receives so in- 

 -L fluential a deputation as that which on Friday last 

 requested Mr. Goschen to supplement the revenues of the 

 X'ictoria University from the National Exchequer. The 

 gentlemen present represented the intelligence and indus- 

 try of the North of England : they told a story of earnest 

 and patriotic eflbrt, and we sincerely trust that Mr 

 Goschen will feel able to afford them the moderate 

 assistance they desire. 



The ground on which the request was made, and on 

 which Mr. Goschen promised to consider it with favour- 

 able attention, was designedly circumscribed by narrow 

 limits. Neither the deputation nor the Chancellor wished 

 to raise the wide question of the future relations between 

 the State and the higher education. Both were anxious 

 to regard the matter in hand from one point of view only. 

 For good reasons the State has seen fit to confer the 

 power of granting degrees upon the Victoria University, 

 but it insists that external examiners shall take part with 

 the Professors of the University in the conduct of the 

 degree examinations. The cost thereby entailed on the 

 Colleges, though not very great, is still an appreciable 

 burden to institutions which can barely pay their way. It 

 is therefore suggested that without committing itself to 

 any far-reaching scheme of a general endowment of 

 University Colleges, the State might properly defray the 

 cost of the restrictions which it has itself imposed. 

 Unlike the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the 

 Victoria University has hitherto depended on funds which 

 have been accumulated in a single generation. Unlike the 

 University of London, it is a federation of Colleges en- 

 gaged in educational work. These institutions want their 

 class fees and their e.xamination fees as well as all their 

 slender resources from endowments, and could turn them 

 to good account. Their case is, that to do so would be 

 to the public advantage. They ask that 2000/. a year 

 may be given towards the salaries of the examiners and 

 other University officials, in order that the Colleges of 

 the Victoria University may be able to devote the whole 

 of their available funds to the work of teaching. 



With this position we have no fault to find. The 

 circumstances of the Victoria University are exceptional, 

 and we think that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he 

 grants the request of the deputation, may fairly contend 

 that he has not committed himself on the wider issue 

 that must before long be raised. 



We cannot, however, refrain from pointing out that the 

 question of State aid to higher education cannot remain 

 in its present position. Whether such aid shall or shall 

 not be given is no longer open to discussion. It is given 

 already, but not, apparently, on any definite principle. 



If it is right that 12,000/. a year should be supplied 

 from the national funds for three new Colleges in Wales, 

 which have still their reputations to make, it is surely 

 wrong that England should have received no help till a 

 school of science of European celebrity like the Owens 

 College is forced to ask for a share in a grant of 2000/. 

 a year. Scotland, Wales, and Ireland receive upwards 

 Vol. XXXV.— No. 907 



of 40,000/. a year in aid of higher education. Why is 

 England, who pays no small share of this, to have no 

 equivalent aid herself? It has not been found that a 

 liberal educational policy discourages the " pious founder." 

 University College, Dundee, and Lord Gifford's recent 

 bequest are proofs that he still flourishes in Scotland. 

 Why should a contrary result be feared if England 

 shared Scotland's advantages ? 



It may be said that the fact that the northern Colleges 

 have reached their present degree of efficiency without 

 State support is sufficient proof that it has not been 

 needed. We doubt the validity of this argument. Time 

 is an important element in the industrial warfare of the 

 present day. If we are to wait till prosperity and high 

 prices enable our provincial Colleges to struggle through 

 the slough of financial difficulty in which many of them 

 are involved, we may find too late that efficient edu- 

 cational institutions have helped to bring to others pro- 

 sperity which has not come to us. The higher education 

 of our industrial population is no mere luxury to be 

 attended to at a more " convenient season," but a vital 

 necessity, a fundamental condition of commercial success. 

 The State should indeed do nothing to choke the fount 

 of private generosity by which in the past that education 

 has for the most part been provided. It should do all in 

 its power to direct local effort towards those channels in 

 which most good can be done. The promoters of the 

 Yorkshire College were four years in collecting one- 

 third of the sum which they originally regarded as 

 necessary for their enterprise ; and the undertaking 

 might have languished for several years more had not the 

 Clothworkers' Company come forward with an offer of 

 timely and judicious help. Much good might be done if 

 in like manner the State would assist and encourage the 

 founders of a College in the earlier and more difficult 

 stages of their work. 



We are, however, clearly of opinion that if after 

 fair trial it is evident that a " University College" cannot 

 hope to attain efficient support, or to fill its class-rooms 

 from the surrounding neighbourhood, the State would do 

 well to transfer its patronage of higher education elsewhere. 

 If an institution, whether called a " University College " 

 or not, is really doing elementary work, it can, under our 

 present system, obtain State aid. If its pupils are entered 

 for the South Kensington and City and Guilds of London 

 Examinations, it may, by the grants thus received, largely 

 diminish the sum which would otherwise be required for 

 the payment of its teachers. If, then, it is sufficiently 

 proved that any institution belongs to this class, it is 

 already provided for, and has no special claim for further 

 and exceptional help. 



On the other hand, it must be remembered that the 

 higher education has never been self-supporting, and that 

 the most successful College can only hope to make both 

 ends meet by endowments or by a sufficient income 

 obtained from some other source than fees. More good 

 will be done by allotting any sum devoted to higher 

 education to Colleges which may be in financial difficulties, 

 but which have proved that they are situated where 

 the want of such education is felt, than in affording 

 exceptional support to institutions in thinly-populated 

 districts, where the " raw material " for a successful 

 experiment in teaching of the highest class cannot be 



