420 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 770 



been numerous beginnings made in the 

 past few years, by educational boards and 

 associations of wider scope, to set up 

 standards in different portions of the edu- 

 cational field. 



The Association of Collegiate Alumnse, 

 which was organized in 1882, admits to its 

 membership graduates of institutions 

 whose work and equipment have been ap- 

 proved by the Association. Inasmuch as 

 the association deals only with institutions 

 to which women are admitted, its scope as 

 a standardizing body is limited to colleges 

 for women and coeducational institutions. 

 The standard adopted by this Association 

 has not been published and is understood 

 to be in process of revision.^ 



The Association of American Universi- 

 ties was organized in 1900 for the purpose 

 of considering matters of common interest 

 relating to graduate study. Among the 

 important items mentioned in the invita- 

 tion to the conference which resulted in the 

 formation of the Association was the con- 

 sideration of means to secure in foreign 

 universities "such credit as is legitimately 



^ Since this paper was written the Association 

 of Collegiate Alumnae has published a revision of 

 its standard. Summarized briefly the conditions 

 for eligibility to membership include entrance re- 

 quirements demanding at least four years of sec- 

 ondary school work; graduation requirements 

 corresponding to amount of work ordinarily in- 

 cluded in four years of serious college study; the 

 number of full professors, total property, and 

 productive endowment shall not be less than the 

 minimum in institutions already admitted to 

 membership; the ratio of full professors to stu- 

 dents and of instructors to students, number of 

 laboratories, number of books in the library and 

 number of departmental journals shall be at least 

 as large as the average number in institutions of 

 the same type already admitted to membership; 

 no preparatory department shall be imder the 

 government or instruction of the collegiate fac- 

 ulty; the salaries of the teaching staff shall not 

 be lower than the minimum for the same grade in 

 institutions already admitted to membership 

 where the living conditions are similar. 



due to the advanced work in our own uni- 

 versities of high standing." The initial 

 membership of the Association consisted of 

 fourteen universities. At the present time 

 there are eighteen members.^ 



In 1906 a committee was appointed by 

 this body to report on the aim and scope of 

 the Association. The committee's report 

 was made and unanimously adopted at the 

 meeting at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in Jan- 

 uary, 1908. It recommended that in addi- 

 tion to a strong graduate department, 

 which had previously been the sole condi- 

 tion of membership in the Association, 

 there should be adopted as a second crite- 

 rion for membership the requirement of 

 one or more years of college work as a pre- 

 requisite for admission to professional 

 courses, the combination being so arranged 

 that no professional degree should be given 

 until the satisfactory completion of at least 

 five years of study. 



In order that no substantial hardship 

 might be imposed by a strict enforcement 

 of both requirements at the present time, 

 the committee recommended that in uni- 

 versities which have professional schools 

 and a graduate department, the graduate 

 department shall at least be creditable, 

 and that the arts and technical work pre- 

 scribed for professional degrees in at least 

 one professional school shall be not less 

 than five years. The Association under- 

 took, through a special committee, to make 

 a list of the colleges of the country whose 

 degrees are to be regarded as of equal 

 value with the college degrees conferred 

 by members of the Association. 



The College Entrance Examination 

 Board was organized in 1900 to bring 

 about as rapidly as possible an agreement 

 upon a uniform definition of each subject 

 required by two or more colleges for ad- 

 mission ; to hold or cause to be held a series 



" This number was increased to twenty-two at 

 the annual meeting held in January, 1909. 



