ONE SHILLING
HAS IT A
FUTURE ?
H. j. MACKINDEH, M.A.
Reader in Geography in the U," ,sity of Oxford Staff Lecturer to the Oxford University Extension
MICHAEL E. SADLER, M.A.
Student ann .r-'kimrd r\f Christ Church to the Oxford Dcki/atcs for University Extension-
LONDON: HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AMEN CORNER, E.C.
: 116 $)i$ gfmf
1890
LIBRARY
OF THK
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
A c cessions No. 4ifyB2£-/J0- - . Shelf No
r
SJmbemtg iSxtenston
A SERIES of University Extension Manuals will shortly be published by Mr. MURRAY, Albemarle Street, London, under the Editorship of Professor KNIGHT, of the University of St. Andrews, designed to aid the University Extension movement throughout the country, and to supply the need so widely felt by students, of Text-books for study and references, in connexion with the authorised Courses of Lectures.
The Series will include the following Works : —
Professor W. ANDERSON, Oriel College, Ox- ford, and Frith College, Sheffield. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans. ARTHUR BERRY, Fellow of King's College,
Cambridge (Senior Wrangler). The History of Astronomy. F. S. BOAS, Balliol College, Oxford. Shakespeare •, and his predecessors in the
English Drama.
STOPFORD A. BROOKE, Trinity College, Dublin. The English Poets, from Blake to Tenny- son. Professor BALDWIN BROWN, University of
Edinburgh. The Fine A rts. A. CALDECOTT, Fellow of St. John's College,
Cambridge.
English Colonization and Empire. JOHN Cox, late Warden of Cavendish Col- lege, Fellow of Trinity College, Cam- bridge. Energy in Nature, an Introduction to
Physical Science.
W. CUNNINGHAM, University Lecturer, Cam- bridge.
The Use and Abuse of Capital. Professor PATRICK GEDDES, University Col- lege, Dundee.
Outlines of Modern Botany. EDMUND GOSSE, Trinity College, Cambridge.
The Jacobean Poets.
Professor KNIGHT, University of St. An- drews.
A n Introduction to Philosophy. The Philosophy of the Beautiful. Professor SIMON S, LAURIE, University of
Edinburgh.
Text Book oflhe History of Education. Sir ALFRED LYALL, K.C.B., K. C.S.I. British Dominion in India.
C. E. MALLET, Balliol College, Oxford.
The French Revolution. Professor MCKENDRICK, the University of Glasgow, and Dr. SNODGRASS, Physio- logical Laboratory, Glasgow. The Physiology of the Senses. Professor MENZIES, University of St. An- drews.
Comparative Religion,
HUGH ROBERT MILL, University of Edin- burgh.
Physiography. Professor MINTO, University of Aberdeen.
Logic, Inductive and Deductive. JOHN H. MUIRHEAD, Balliol College, Oxford, Lecturer on Moral Science, Royal Holloway College. The Elements of Ethics, Professor RALEIGH, University College, Liver-
rl. English Novel, from, its Origin to Sir W: Scott. WILLIAM RENTON, University of St. Andrews.
Oictlines of English Literature. R. D. ROBERTS, Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, Secretary to the Cambridge and LondonUniversity Extension Syndi- cates.
Studies in Modern Geology. M. E. SADLER, Senior Student of Christ Church, Oxford, Secretary to the Oxford University Extension Delegacy. Problems of Political Economy. Professor SETH, University of St. Andrews.
Psychology, a Historical Sketch. Professor JAMES STUART, M.P., Trinity
College, Cambridge. Mechanics.
J. ARTHUR THOMSON, University of Edin- burgh. The Study of Animal Life.
LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION
HAS IT A FUTURE?
HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION
HAS IT A FUTURE f
H. J. MACKINDEE,
READER IN GEOGRAPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD STAFF LECTURER TO THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY EXTENSION
M. E. SADLER
STUDENT AND STEWARD OF CHRIST CHURCH SECRETARY TO THE OXFORD DELEGATES FOR UNIVERSITY EXTENSION
UNI7EESIT7
Bonfcon HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AMEN CORNER, E.G.
OXFORD: 116 HIGH STREET 1890
[All rights reserved]
r\*
v-
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTORY.
PAGE Elementary Education and Public Libraries necessitate .
Higher Education ........ 2
General as well as Technical Education .... 4
The Ideal System of Higher Education .... 5
Objects of this Enquiry ....... 5
CHAPTER I. UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT is.
V^\\S -N .
The Natural History of axTypical Centre .... 7 Variations from the Typical Centre . . . . .10
The Four Central Authorities n
The Central Offices 13
The Lecturers . 15
Statistics 17
Growth during the last Five Years . . . . .20
Finance 22
New Developments . . . . . . . 24
The Federation of Centres 27
Affiliation of Centres to the Universities . . . .28
Summer Meetings . . . . . . , .29
Scholarships .......... 32
Extension Journalism and Literature . . . . • 34
The Different Classes of Students 35
Long and Short Courses ....... 39
The Merits and Demerits of Extension as it is . . . 43
VI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER II. UNIVERSITY EXTENSION: How
IT HAS COME TO BE.
PAGE
The Origin of the Phrase ' University Extension ' -45
The Seven Schemes for University Extension in 1850 . 48
The First Proposal for University Extension Teaching, 1850 . 51
Sir Thomas Acland and the Beginning of Local Examinations 55
Professor Stuart and the Beginning of Local Lectures . 61 Official Recognition of Extension Teaching by the University
of Cambridge ......... 66
The First Programme of University Extension Teaching . 71 The "Difficulties which it Encountered . . . -72
The Foundation of the London Extension Society . . 74
The University of Oxford enters on the Work . . • 75
The New Departure in 1885 78
The Oxford Travelling Libraries and Summer Meetings . 79
An Anticipation of the Idea of the Summer Meeting . 81 The Natural Character of the Development of University
Extension .... ..... 82
CHAPTER III. UNIVERSITY EXTENSION : HAS IT A FUTURE ?
University Extension needs Men :
J. Lecturers . . . . . . . . . 85
The Training of Lecturers. . . . . 91
The Oxford Method of Selecting Lecturers . . 98
2. Organizers ......... 100
University Extension needs Money :
1. Locally 101
2. At Head-Quarters 107
The Three Sources whence Money may be drawn :
1. Private Munificence ....... 108
2. The Universities and Colleges . . . . .no
3. The State . . .112
CONTENTS. Vll
PAGE
The Justice of State Aid to University Extension . .113 The Expediency of State Aid to University Extension . 115 The Practicability of State Aid to University Extension . 116
The National Committee's Work 118
The Treasury Grant Scheme . . . . . .120
The County Council Scheme 121
The Possibilities of University Extension . . . .123 Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . .125
APPENDIX.
I. Application of the Extra Spirit Duty.
Statement by Mr. Goschen in the House of Com- mons, July 21, 1890 ...... 130
II. Treasury Minute concerning Grants to Local Colleges 133
III. The Central Authorities for University Extension in
England 136
IV. The District Federations of Centres . . . .136
MAPS.
1. Oxford Centres 1889-1890.
2. Cambridge Centres 1889-1890.
3. University Extension Centres in England 1889-1890.
4. „ „ „ 1885-6.
THE ~^
WVEESIT7
INTRODUCTORY.
THE movement known as University Extension seems to have arrived at a critical period in its history. The wonderful growth of the last two years, whether we measure it by statistics or by the newly awakened interest of newspapers and public men, seems to mark the end of the merely experimental stage. Several new developments are extending the operations of the system. We begin to feel that its tentative organization ought to give way to some more permanent arrangement. At the same time it is clear that both political parties have now come to the conclusion that the State must henceforth play a larger part in national education. On the 2 1 st of July the Chancellor of the Exchequer intimated to the House of Commons that the Government proposed that part of the money accruing from the new Spirit tax should ultimately be used for education 1. At once in Wales and Monmouthshire, by and by also in England, it is to be devoted to the promotion of intermediate, technical and agricultural education. The post-
1 See Appendix I. B
2 INTRODUCTORY.
ponement in th$ case of England is on the ground that very little machinery at present exists for the proper employment of the funds in question. We claim that in University Extension we have already in existence a system which might easily be em- ployed as such machinery, so far at least as part of intermediate education is concerned. In view therefore of the present position of University Extension itself, in view also of the impending discussion and legislation on matters of educa- tion, we think that a concise statement of what University Extension is, of its history, and of its aims, may not be without use. In the course of our inquiry we shall have to make certain suggestions. We wish it to be understood therefore, that though we are personally connected with University Extension, we do not express the opinions of our colleagues or of the Delegates under whom we serve. We would add also that though associated, especially with one branch of the move- ment, we aim at speaking in the interests of the whole, and that on subjects which have come to be matters of controversy we shall strive to represent with fairness the views of all parties.
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION AND PUBLIC LIBRARIES NECESSITATE HIGHER EDUCATION.
The fundamental idea and object of Univer- sity Extension is to bring the University to
INTRODUCTORY. 3
the people when the people cannot come to the University. It may be regarded as the out- come of two great modern institutions, universal Elementary Education and free Public Libraries. It is possible in its present form, because of the recent development of our railway system.
When Parliament, yielding to modern necessities, enacted compulsory elementary education, it forced on future generations a two-edged weapon. It was certain therefore that as the first generation of the new regime grew to maturity, strong voice would be given to the necessity of yet further changes. The training of early life having been revolutionised, all the surroundings of later years were thrown out of gear. It was obvious that, sooner or later, our whole educational system would have to be recon- structed. It is now being generally recognised that we cannot leave things as they are. The output of demoralising literature has greatly increased. An intellectual diet too exclusively of newspapers and novels threatens to emasculate the national mind.
It is an open question whether the Public Libraries have not so far greatly contributed to the spread of the more insidious danger. Free Libraries are essential to a community whose masses can read ; it is clear however that alone they are almost as capable of abuse as the mere power of reading. Carlyle's idea that the library is the real University is true only within narrow B 2
4 INTRODUCTORY.
limits. It implies the conception of a University as primarily a place of research, and this again involves researchers who are both willing and capable. The minds are rare which naturally take to intellectual effort, and rarer still are those which can in isolation grow erect and strong. Most men, even of great opportunities, can trace their intel- lectual life to the touch of one or two minds of maturity and keenness. And even granting the awakened interest, in an age when book-writing is a trade, it requires an expert to distinguish be- tween the true guide and the false.
GENERAL AS WELL AS TECHNICAL EDUCATION.
Technical Education and Commercial Education are crying wants, and in themselves excellent ; but there is need of yet another kind of education, unless reading is to become a very mixed benefit. The immense multiplication of novels and news- papers is evidence that, once admitted to the world of letters, the minds of men and women demand freer play than they can find in most ordinary callings in life. That this play of millions of minds should be on great thoughts rather than small ones, is to be desired both for the avoidance of evil and for the vast increase of good. The school life of the millions ends too early to give them more than the implements of learning. They need to be
INTRODUCTORY.
brought in contact with the living cultured teachers, who are as essential to the complete University as is the library.
THE IDEAL SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION.
Our ideal is that a centre of stimulus and guid- ance should exist alongside of a Public Library in every town in the country ; that they should sup- plement one another, and that together they should carry forward the education begun in the ele- mentary schools. To do the greatest service, such a centre must combine some of the functions of the higher forms in the Public School, of the University class-room, and of the Eoyal Institution. It must teach the girl and youth, it must guide and stimu- late the young man and young woman, it must maintain the intellectual interest of the older citizen. For lack of some such complete system, a great amount of our immense expenditure on edu- cation is running to waste. However incomplete, however tentative, University Extension is the one great agency in the field which seeks to fulfil this ideal.
OBJECTS OE THIS ENQUIRY.
We propose in this pamphlet enquiring how far University Extension, as it exists, is satisfactory ;
INTRODUCTOKY.
how it has come to be what it is; whether it is destined to become a greater institution in the future, and whether it is not now advisable for the State to recognise and assist it.
CHAPTER I.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF A TYPICAL CENTRE.
WE shall commence our survey of University Extension as it exists to-day by giving first what we may describe as the natural history of a typical centre. Some prominent inhabitant of a country town hears of the scheme while on a visit or is taken to a lecture, and being rather an educational pillar in his neighbourhood, he is pleased with the idea. He writes to Oxford or Cambridge for papers, and gets the subject up. He invites a few friends to his house and ventilates his project. Being himself a busy man he seeks another to undertake the burden of secretaryship. As often as not the secretary is a lady. The Mayor is now visited and a public meeting called. A representative may possibly attend from one of the Universities. Resolutions are passed, a committee is elected, and the appointment of the Secretary is
8 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
ratified. A house-to-house journey or an ' at home' raises the list of guarantors. The committee meet to choose a subject to begin with and a lecturer. The Secretary makes a formal application to one of the Central Offices, and if the lecturer applied foi- ls free, dates are fixed and advertisement is com- menced. The editors of the local newspapers are interested, and various members of the committee undertake to dispose of a certain number of tickets.
When the lecturer arrives for the first time he is taken to the house of one of the com- mittee. He learns from his host the nature of the audience and hears of many local difficulties and peculiarities. He delivers his inaugural lecture, organizes his class and explains the method and opportunities of the scheme. If he is successful, the doubtful are convinced and the ' course ' is satisfactorily floated. The lectures are delivered at weekly or fortnightly intervals. There are from six to twelve lectures in the course. A universal characteristic of Extension lectures is the syllabus, a pamphlet containing an analysis of each lecture, a list of text-books and other authorities on the subject, and such quotations and statistics as the lecturer finds it expedient to put into print. Wherever possible, the lectures are illustrated by specimens and diagrams. Owing to its intrinsic merits and to the difficulty of carry- ing cumbersome diagrams and specimens about by
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 9
train, the magic lantern is in growing favour as a means of illustration. In some cases the lecturer is able to make use of the local museum and in the case of one or two courses on musical subjects a local chorus has been trained for purposes of illustration. After each lecture there is a pause, during which a portion of the audience withdraws, leaving only the c students/ A ' class ' is then held, during which the lecturer goes into further details and explains difficulties. The lecturer gets to know personally, at least the more active and promising of his students. At each class questions are given out on which the students write short essays. These ' weekly (or fortnightly) papers ' are regarded as one of the corner-stones of the system. They are usually sent to the lecturer by post and he returns them at the following class bearing his comments. In the case of the Oxford lectures a ' travelling library ' accompanies every course. It consists of a strong box containing about twenty or thirty of the books recommended by the lecturer. These bo.oks are either lent in rota- tion to the students or deposited in some accessible room for reference.
At the close of the course, the lecturer prepares a list of those students who have attended at least a certain proportion — usually two-thirds or three- quarters — of the classes, and have written the same proportion of the c weekly papers/ These students are qualified to sit for the examination which is held
10 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
at the centre by the University authorities. Three weeks or a month after the last lecture, the ex- aminer, who is appointed by the University and is other than the lecturer, issues a list of successful candidates arranged in two classes, those who have ' distinguished ' themselves, and those who have c satisfied the examiner.' A prize is awarded to the student at the head of the list. At a later meeting, not unfrequently the first lecture of a sub- sequent course, the member of parliament or some other local magnate distributes the certificates and gives away the prizes.
VABIATIONS PROM THE TYPICAL CENTRE.
Of course there are many variations from the typical centre. In some cases the course is ar- ranged and the payment of the University account is guaranteed by some already existing society, a Mechanics' Institute, a Loc.al College, or a Public Library, occasionally even by a wealthy individual. The working-men's centres in the north of England are in several instances organized by co-operative societies. In all cases, however, the essential parts of the local organization are the Local Secretary, who maintains touch with the Central Univeisity Office, and the person or persons who guarantee the payment of the University bill.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 11
THE FOUR CENTRAL AUTHORITIES.
Four different bodies carry on the central organ- ization of University Extension in England, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the London Society for the Extension of Univer- sity Teaching, and the Victoria University. At Oxford, the managing authority is a Committee appointed for the purpose by the Delegacy of Local Examinations. At Cambridge, it is the Local Examinations and Lectures Syndicate. The Oxford Congregation elects the Delegacy 19 the Cam- bridge Senate the Syndicate, so that both at Oxford and Cambridge, University Extension is authorised by the general bodies of resident Masters of Arts. The London Society is governed by a Council, which, on educational matters, is assisted and ad- vised by a Joint Board, consisting of three re- presentatives of each of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London. The General Board of Studies of the Victoria University has a Committee for Local Lectures. Each of the four bodies entrusts the detailed management to a Secretary, who, in the cases of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, has an office and clerks.
The chief function of the ' Central Office ' is to supply to the local centres competent lecturers and examiners.
1 Either directly or through the Hebdomadal Council. A few members are added by the Vice- Chancellor and the Proctors.
12 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
Within the Metropolitan Postal District the London Society has a monopoly, on the ground that since Oxford and Cambridge are represented on its Joint Board, they would be competing against themselves if they entered this field. This is obvi- ously a temporary arrangement, and it is worth noting that- in the neighbourhood of London, but outside the Postal District, the London Society competes with the Universities. Speaking broadly, Oxford and Cambridge are competitors in the re- mainder of England, though the competition is of a limited character. Neither seeks to supplant the other, but both go wherever their services are in request. The practice is increasing in many towns of seeking a lecturer sometimes from the one, some- times from the other. An exception, however, exists in those centres which the University of Cambridge has affiliated to itself for a term of three or four years. In and near the cities of Liverpool, Manchester, and Leeds, the older universities find a third competitor in the Victoria University, which has the natural protection due to its being on the spot, but no monopoly. In Durham and Northumberland, Cambridge works in conjunction with the Durham University. There are various opinions on tlie question of competition. Some consider that it is detrimental to the standard of work aimed at. Personally, we can quite see the objections to it, and think that it is a principle which should not be unlimited in its scope. We
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 13
believe, however, that hitherto it has contributed greatly to the life of the movement, and done little or no harm. It adds esprit de corps to the incen- tives of the lecturer, a factor which we may note plays a great part in the College systems of Oxford and Cambridge .
Each of the four authorities has a staff of lec- turers, a few of whom devote themselves wholly to Extension work, but most of them hold some second appointment. Some names appear on the lists of two different staffs, and the London Society makes all the Oxford and Cambridge staffs ipso facto members of its own. If a London centre desires to do so, it may, through the London office therefore, make an offer of employment to almost any extension lecturer in England. So far as we know the payments to lecturers are in all cases by fees, not by stipend.
THE CENTRAL OFFICES.
We have already looked at Extension from the point of view of the Student, let us now consider it from that of the central organizing Secretary and the Lecturer.
By far the greater number of courses are de- livered in the winter months. The session ex- tends from September to April, and is divided into two parts by the Christmas holidays. Hence the busy time in the office is the late spring and the
14 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
early summer, when most of the arrangements are made for the coming winter, and the report on the past one is prepared. Details of organization differ in the different offices, we therefore confine our- selves to the Oxford method, with which the others agree in the main outlines. In March a c file ' of papers is sent out to every established centre. It in- cludes a list of lecturers and of their subjects, and a form of application, on which the Local Secretary is to state in order of preference, the first, second, and third choice of his committee in the matter of lecturers for the following autumn and spring. This form has to be returned to Oxford by a certain day in April. When the applications are in, they are digested by the Secretary, and the lecturers are consulted in order of the choice ex- pressed by the centre. The senior having selected from the offers in which he stands first, those which he can find time for and which the railways allow of easy grouping, the remainder are passed on. The second will have before him his own first offers, and those offers in which he stands second, but which have been refused by the lecturer first named. This process is repeated by the third, and so on. Thus the groundwork of the next year's arrangement is easily prepared. There is always, however, a resi- duum of centres whose applications come late, who desire one particular lecturer and refuse any other, or who refuse to work amicably with their rail- way neighbours, and so cannot be placed in a
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 15
circuit round which a lecturer travels weekly or fortnightly. After much negotiation these are fitted in. At last, in July, the list for the coming winter is completed. It shows certain gaps ; and new centres, which are started at all times of the year, must either take a less experienced lecturer, who has as yet little work, or must take advantage of a gap — in other words, must forego choice and take the lecturer who happens to be near them and free.
THE LECTURERS.
The Lecturers are of two types, men of standing, who, watching the growth of the extension scheme, have seen it to their advantage to seek a place in its j^ersonnel, and young men with as yet merely academic honours. The former are an important minority, but we need not here further consider them. Of the latter, most; no doubt, look on Ex- tension as a temporary occupation ; a few, how- ever, who have met with marked success, are treat- ing it as one of the chief chapters in their life. Of the Lecturers whose whole career has so far been in connection with the Extension, the most promi- nent are Mr. R. G. Moulton of Cambridge and the Eev. W. Hudson Shaw of Oxford. The chief diffi- culty in the way of long service is the undeniably arduous character of the work. A lecturer in full employment lectures on five evenings in the week
16 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
and on three or four afternoons as well. Each lecture and class requires two hours of concen- trated effort and attention. In addition there are the students' papers to be corrected, to the number of say 200 a week. This lasts for twelve weeks in the autumn and is renewed for twelve weeks in the spring. Besides actual work, there are the long journeys by rail and the absence from home for the greater part of the week. More than one lecturer has had to travel j 0,000 miles in a session. On the other hand, there is abundance of stimulus, — there is the constant interest of touch with new audiences and new individuals, there are wonderful opportunities for learning the many phases of English social life and the many aspects of the country, and there is the delightful experience of almost unvarying hospitality and consideration. There are long holidays free for travelling and for literary work, for taking in and arranging what is to be given out in the following session. Still the wear and tear is such, that the best men, the men with their hearts in the cause, are constantly tempted to accept the easier positions, which the publicity of their work ensures to them. It speaks volumes for their devotion that one of them, in Holy Orders, recently refused a living in the Church of £1200 a year. The largest income ever yet made by ex- tension work is probably between £500 and £600,, and that by a man of most uncommon powers of
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 17
endurance. The problem of the future, so far as the lecturers are concerned, is so to reduce their work and their travelling, and so to increase their emoluments as to make it worth the while of an able man to refuse preferment for at least ten or fifteen years after the completion of his University course. We want the whole time and vigour of many men of experience and energy, not only the temporary services of young men who are waiting at the gates of the professions.
STATISTICS.
Such is the nature of the University Extension method and personnel. We have next to grasp the scale on which they are at present employed.
In the session 1 889-90 1J 148 courses of lectures were delivered in connection with Oxford, 125 in connection with Cambridge, 107 in connection with London. The Victoria University pub- lishes no annual report, but since during the last three years twenty-one courses have been under its management, we may safely add to our numbers for the session 1889-90, seven courses. This gives us a total of 387 courses. The average number of lectures in a course has been, for Oxford between seven and eight, for Cambridge and London just
1 The following reports are referred to in this section : — Oxford, sessions 1885-6, 1889-90; Cambridge, sessions 1885-6, 1889-90; London, 1885 and 1889; Victoria, Report for 1887-90.
C
18 UNIVEESITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
under twelve. We may therefore assume an average all round of ten. We have thus a total of 3870 lectures in one session, and this without counting more than 100 in the Oxford Summer Meeting.
In the same session 17,904 people attended the Ox- ford courses, 11,301 the Cambridge courses, 10,982 the London courses. In three years the Victoria courses were attended by about 2730, giving us a yearly average of 910 to be reckoned to the total for 1889-90. Irrespective of more than 1000 mem- bers of the Oxford Summer Meeting, we have a grand total of 41,097 attendants at the courses in one session. The word c course ' has been used rather than lectures to indicate the meaning of these figures. The attendance at each lecture is noted. The average attendance at each lecture of a course can thus be found, and the averages of all the courses, added together, give the above numbers. It should be observed that the statistics of the different authorities are not collected on quite the same principles. The London Society gives ' entries for courses ' instead of ' average attendances/ but this probably vitiates the figures only very slightly.
The total number of students examined is not attainable. In the case of Cambridge it is returned at 1734 for the last session. Oxford and London only publish the numbers of certificates awarded, 953 in the case of Oxford, 1361 in that of London. Even these figures are not quite complete, for at
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 19
the date of publication, in all three cases, certain of the examinations were not over. We shall therefore be well within the mark if we say that 4300 or over ten per cent, of the audiences were examined. If we bear in mind the facts that the audiences are largely composed of adults, and that the certificate has a direct use only for a few people, this is not an unsatisfactory result. The smallness of the number in the case of Oxford is explained by the newness of most of the Oxford centres. In all cases, many of the best students refuse to submit themselves to examination, and we must allow that examination is not the end in view in University Extension, only a very valuable method of inciting to thoroughness of work.
The number of lecturers actually employed in the session 1889-90 was in London 30, by the Ox- ford scheme 24, by the Cambridge scheme also 24. Since eight of those who lectured in London also lectured in the country for Cambridge, and two also for Oxford, the total number of lecturers em- ployed was sixty-eight. On an average they de- livered nearly six courses each, without counting Victoria, for which we have no returns under this head.
The number of towns in which the lectures were delivered cannot be accurately stated owing to the difficulty of separating suburbs from their cities. The maps at the end of the book will, however, give a very fair idea of the distribution of the work. c 3
20 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
The first shows the towns in which Oxford lectures were delivered in the session 1889-90. The second is a similar map for Cambridge. It should be remem- bered that at present, owing to various circum- stances, mainly financial difficulties, some centres are intermittent, and for this reason some names are absent from the maps in this particular year, though in another they might have appeared. Broadly, Oxford and Cambridge predominate re- spectively on their two sides of the country. The exceptions are due to various causes, the chief being the personal connexion with one or other of some prime mover in a neighbourhood, and secondly, the occasional failure of a lecturer, a discouragement which both schemes have sometimes to encounter, and which not unfrequently leads to a transfer of allegiance to the rival university.
GROWTH DURING THE LAST FIVE YEARS.
The third map shows the general state of Uni- versity Extension in 1889-90. The outlying Lon- don centres are shown by crosses, the remainder are indicated by the number placed against the word Londc^n. All the remaining centres are Oxford or Cambridge.
The statistics just given belong only to the moment. The present is a time of immense in- crease. We have at our command numbers bear- ing on the future in the case only of Oxford.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
21
Already ninety-one courses have been arranged for the autumn term of this year, and the number is still increasing. The number delivered in the autumn term of last year was seventy-nine.
The fourth map will enable us to grasp the growth in the immediate past. It is constructed on the same principle as the third, except that the Oxford centres are distinguished by stars.
Below we have in tabular form the contrast between the present and five years ago.
|
OXFORD. |
CAMBRIDGE. |
LONDON. |
TOTAL. |
|
|
Courses delivered 1 : — 1885-1886 1889-1890 |
27 148 |
82 125 |
63 107 |
172 380 |
|
Average attendances 1 :- 1885-1886 1889-1890 |
3000 17,904 |
8557 11,301 |
5*95 10,982 |
16,752 40,187 |
University Extension in England has much more than doubled in the last five years. Five years ago Oxford had only just entered the field as a serious competitor. There can be no question that both directly by her efforts and indirectly by her competition, Oxford has done much to atone for her earlier inaction. We shall have to refer to these figures again later on, especially with regard to certain controversial points.
In the last five years University Extension has
1 In the case of London the numbers are for 1885 and 1889.
22 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
been started in Scotland, in Ireland, in America, and in Australia. Official enquiries have also come from France and India.
FINANCE.
A complete statement of the financial condition of the movement cannot be given for lack of pub- lished materials. The following facts may how- ever be of service.
During the last five years, local committees have expended on Oxford courses (exclusive of local expenses) -£13,238 ; of this amount £7760 has been spent during the last two years l. If we estimate the local expenses at £10 a course, which on the average cannot be far from the mark, then in the last five years we have a local expenditure of about ^4530 on 453 courses. In addition, the University has granted during the same period for office expenses sums amounting to ^1700 besides an office rent-free2. The Oxford Eeport states that the Clarendon Press has also rendered substantial assistance in the printing of syllabuses. A special fund of ^600 has been raised by sub- scription and spent on the subsidising of a senior lecturer. A great number of books were presented by publishers and others when the Travelling
1 Cf. Oxford Official Circular on University Extension, 1890.
2 Oxford University Extension Accounts presented to the Uni- versity, 1885-1889.
UNIVEKSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 23
Libraries were first started. These have been the chief items of income in the Oxford accounts for five years.
The total cost of the Oxford system under all the above heads during the year 1889-90 may be set down at about £7000.
The balance sheet of the London Society for 1889 shows an income of about £3500, including nearly £800 by subscriptions, and an expenditure also of about £3500. The local expenses are in London rather less than in the country, owing to the sinallness of the item for the travelling of the Lecturer. If we put them at ,^8 a course, we shall have to add for local expenses say ^850, making the total annual cost of the London scheme about £4350.
We have no figures accessible for Cambridge, but as the Cambridge courses on the average are longer than those of Oxford, we may perhaps set the annual cost down at £7500.
Let us add, say, £2,50 for the Victoria University.
Thus our rough estimate of the present annual cost of University Extension stands thus : —
Oxford £7000 Cambridge 7500 London 435o Victoria 250
Total £19.100
24 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
or less than ten shillings a head on the total average attendance1. If we put the average number of lectures in a course at ten, we have a cost of a shilling a lecture for each attendant, and this includes, besides the lecture, the right to attend the class, to have an essay corrected, in most cases to sit for examination and, if suc- cessful, to receive a certificate. In the case of Oxford it further includes the use of a small library.
We venture on the assertion that University Extension, as it exists, is one of the cheapest educational institutions in this country.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS.
Hitherto we have spoken of the Central authori- ties, the Lecturers and the Centres, in fact of the esta- blished system of Extension. Our account would be very incomplete, however, without some reference to a number of experiments belonging to the last two or three years, experiments whose general tendency may be best described as the bracing up of the system. It had hitherto consisted of a number of isolated centres which slept during the summer months, and which regarded the Universities merely
1 This is an average only. While some centres flourish, others are struggling. See on this point Chapter III.
UNIVEBS1TY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 25
as purveyors of lecturers and examiners. The effect of the new growths will be to make continuous the life of the centres, to bind the centres to one another and to bring them nearer to the University.
We have already stated that the normal Exten- sion session consists of two terms, each of twelve weeks, the one before, the other after Christmas. For a long time it was assumed that the public cared only to be taught in the long evenings of the winter. Recently, however, a most unexpected demand has arisen for courses in the early summer. The London Report for 1889 shows no fewer than thirteen summer courses. In the present year four summer courses have been given for Oxford, and already four have been arranged for the summer of 1891. Thus part at least of the long gap seems to be bridged over during which enthusiasm cooled and habits of study declined.
Largely owing to Mr. R. G. Moulton's initiative, Students' Associations were started in a few Cam- bridge centres some years ago. At first the idea seemed very difficult of realisation, but experience was gradually gathered, and within the last year or so there has been a great increase of such asso- ciations. A Students' Association is now the usual mark of a good centre. No fewer than thirty-six have been founded in 1889-90 in the Oxford centres alone1. Their objects are to hold the * students ' together, to engender esprit de corps, to
1 Oxford Keport, 1890.
26 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
prepare for courses announced, to hold discussions on difficult points during their delivery, to continue supplementary study when they are over, and to organize scientific and historical excursions in the summer. Their standing organization may obviously be adapted to many purposes in the future.
Partly in connection with Students' Associations and partly not, each of the three great Extensions has started a scheme for what is known as Home Heading Circles. The idea was that isolated students in small places out of reach of an Extension centre, and Extension students in the off-season, should join a circle to read on some definite subject under the leadership of an expert. The members sent periodical essays to the leader of the circle. The scheme had the advantage of reaching the isolated units in the villages. It seemed a promising new development. An elaborate apparatus was con- trived, a system of adhesive stamps for the pre- payment of the fees on essays came from the Oxford Office, but somehow the idea hung fire 1. It may be that to some extent summer courses leave little room for it. It seems more probable, how- ever, that it lacks the^ essential element of success. Reading and writing require the stimulus and corrective of living touch with the teacher. It is only fair to say, however, that an independent organization, the National Home Reading Union,
1 See Oxford Keport, 1890.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 27
after a period of comparative failure, has now 7000 members. Were University Extension Lectures made cheaper, and the centres far more numerous, we doubt whether any scheme for associated study would succeed which did not include face to face intercourse with a teacher.
THE FEDERATION OF CENTRES.
The linking together of neighbouring centres has recently begun to make some progress. The first district federation formed was the South Eastern. It now includes most of the centres, both Oxford and Cambridge, in Surrey, Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire. It has been followed by a South Western Federation in Cornwall, Devon, and So- merset, a Yorkshire Federation, and a Northern Federation in the four northern counties. The greatest advantage which has as yet come from the rise of the federations is the breaking down of the barrier between the Oxford and the Cambridge centres. The personal acquaintance of neighbour- ing local secretaries removes many difficulties of organization. Both Universities have offered re- duced terms to federations which can form con- venient circuits for the lecturers.
28 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
AFFILIATION OF CENTRES TO THE UNIVERSITIES.
The binding of the centres to the University has been promoted in two different ways ; by the offer- ing of special advantages to a centre1 which submits to the more definite guidance of its studies by the University, and by the invitation of the students to reside for a short time in the University itself. Cambridge has led the way with the former, Ox- ford with the latter.
The old Universities have now for some ten years affiliated local colleges, and granted to their students certain privileges, the most important of which is the remission, on certain conditions, of one out of the three years of residence necessary to a degree. The Colleges affiliated to Oxford are Lampeter, Nottingham, and Sheffield. Cambridge has lately extended affiliation to those Extension centres which undertake a systematic course of lectures on Science and Literature extending over a period of four years. The Centres that have as yet availed themselves of this permission are Hull, Scarborough, Newcastle - on - Tyne, Sunderland, Derby, Exeter, and Plymouth l.
Oxford has not followed suit in this matter, though she seeks to encourage continuity of work by offering Higher Certificates of systematic study2.
1 Cambridge Report, 1889-90.
2 The London Society also otfers special Certificates of Continuous Study.
TJNIVEESITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 29
The conditions which must be complied with to obtain these certificates are practically identical with those demanded in the Cambridge Affiliated Centres, but Oxford remits no year of residence. This, on the whole, we regret, though we much doubt whether any but an infinitesimal percentage of the students would avail themselves of the privilege even if granted. Its value lies chiefly in the definite stamp which it gives to the Higher Certificate. The Extension student is as a rule already pledged to a career in life. Two years of residence are to him just as prohibitory as three. We look for the element of residence not to any remissions in the normal University course, but rather to the development of the Oxford Summer Meeting into a resident Summer University. We are bound to admit, however, that this is merely an opinion based on considerable knowledge of Extension students. The Cambridge Affiliation Scheme has been in force for too short a time to give us any ascertained statistics on the point.
SUMMEE MEETINGS.
The Summer meetings are certainly the most striking of all the recent developments. The history of their origin will be stated on a later page. Here we shall merely describe their work, and point out their place in the general scheme
30 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
of University Extension. The first Summer meet- ing was held at Oxford in August, I8881. It lasted ten days, and was attended by 900 students. Short courses of from three to six lectures were delivered in the mornings, while the evenings were devoted to addresses by eminent men on literary and scientific subjects. The opportunity was taken of holding conferences of the local secretaries and other organizers who happened to be present, and there can be no question but that the move- ment has greatly benefited by the ideas then struck out. The foundation of many new centres is di- rectly traceable to the enthusiasm of this meeting. It was thrown impartially open alike to Oxford, Cambridge and London students.
The first experiment having succeeded, it having been proved that, if invited, the students would come to the University, the next point was to keep them in residence for a longer time. The second meeting in August, 1889, was announced to consist of two * parts ' 2, of which Part I was in all essential respects to resemble the meeting of 1888. Part II was to be open to those students who could afford to remain on for an additional period of three weeks. It was to be devoted to quiet study and would lack most of the element of intellectual dissipation which enlivened Part I. 1000 students came to Part I, no fewer than 150 remained on for Part II.
1 Eeport of Oxford Summer MeetiDg, 1888.
2 Ibid., 1889.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 31
On all hands it was admitted that both parts were successes. As with the Winter courses in the centres, so with the Summer meeting at Oxford, several different classes of people with their dif- ferent wants had to be kept in view. Of course those who stayed for the whole month may be assumed to have gained the most, but we protest against the idea that Part I was the mere intellectual orgy which a few people who were not present have chosen to think it. Several hundred of the students were teachers who came for new ideas and new methods which should throw a new life into their teaching. As in the earlier year, many new centres derived their impulse from Part I. We have therefore facts, as well as opinions, tending to show that the work then begun was, in not a few cases, continued with perseverance. Oxford is about to hold a third meeting, but the feature of the present year is that Cambridge has also entered the new field. Owing to the circumstances that many Undergraduates reside at Cambridge during the long vacation, and that Cambridge has not yet a splendid group of halls as fitted for the purpose as the Oxford Examination Schools, the sister University cannot undertake a great meeting simi- lar to the Oxford Part I. Forty students have, however, assembled for a month's study in her lec- ture-rooms, libraries, laboratories, and art-galleries. The idea of such a Summer meeting has been very contagious. The National Home Beading Union
32 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
held a successful gathering at Blackpool both this year and last. Edinburgh, it may be mentioned, has tried to acclimatise the scheme in Scotland. But, obviously, no place has the same available wealth of educational appliances that are to be found idle and ready to hand at Oxford in the months of July, August, and September.
SCHOLARSHIPS.
There is one feature in connection with these meetings which is, as yet, little developed, but which has great significance. Ten days at Oxford, even when the lodgings are put on tariff, together with the travelling to and from the University, imply an expenditure of about £$, the whole month one of J^io1. To poorer Extension students these are prohibitive sums. After the first meeting, several subscribers came forward with the offer of scholar- ships for poor students tenable at the second meeting. These scholarships were given to Oxford Extension students who had qualified by attending certain courses of lectures in the centres in the winter. They were awarded on the results of a competition of essays, among others to two car- penters, two clerks, a fustian weaver, a dockyard artisan, and three elementary teachers 2. This year,
1 Oxford Summer Meeting Programme, 1890. 8 Oxford Extension Report, 1890.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 33
the number of the scholarships, by the kindness of the donors, has been increased, and there will be present in Oxford this month more than twenty comparatively poor people holding scholarships of <^5 or j£Jio. Of these at least six are working men, and at least four elementary teachers1. These numbers do not include scholarships tenable at the Oxford and Cambridge meetings which have been given to London Students.
The report of the Examiners who awarded the Oxford Scholarships, indicating as it does the standard of excellence reached by the poorer stu- dents of the Extension, is worth reproducing in extenso 2.
' There has been a great increase in the number of essays sent in, and the high level reached in the competition last year has been fully maintained.
' The historical and other essays written by work-
•/ j
ing men are worthy of special praise.
'In science, the number of good and deserving essays was far in advance of anything experienced in previous years. The best essays were extremely good, and proved that very hard and conscientious work had been done. The majority of the essays were up to Scholarship standard.
' The best essay written on the literary subject showed a remarkable amount of reading and thought, but the Examiners regret that more essays
1 Oxford Official Circular for University Extension, 1890.
2 Ibid.
34 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
were not written on the subjects drawn from English Literature.
J. FRANCE BRIGHT.
(Master of University College.)
A. SlDGWICK.
(Fellow and Tutor of Corpus Christi College.}
L. R. PHELPS.
(Fellow and Tutor of Oriel College.}
E. B. POULTON.
(F.R.S., Late Lecturer at Keble and Jesus Colleges.)'
EXTENSION JOURNALISM AND LITERATURE.
The various recent developments which we have now described, the Summer Courses, the Students' Associations, the Home Reading Circles, the Fede- rations of Centres, the Affiliated Centres and the Summer Meetings have all helped to make Ex- tension a constantly present factor in the life of the student, and to create an Extension ' public.' Hence the newest feature of all, a sudden growth of Extension Literature, both newspapers and books. Oxford led the way last year with a tentative effort, a circular issued from time to time giving the latest arrangements. The object was the modest one of saving a large amount of letter-writing in the office. Then the South Western Association began to issue a small journal of its own. This appears quarterly at
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 35
Exeter. In February this year a Monthly Maga- zine was started in London, entitled the University Extension Journal. Though it claims to represent the whole movement, it is managed by the London Society, and a large part of it is taken up with that Society's official announcements. It is understood that the Oxford Delegates have, therefore, decided to convert their private circular into a Monthly Magazine. Perhaps at some later stage, when the movement has been given greater consistency and unity, these various organs may find it to their interest to unite.
Finally, Mr. John Murray has announced his intention of issuing a series of University Exten- sion Manuals under the editorship of Professor Knight of St. Andrews. Several other publishers are understood to be preparing to follow his example.
THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF STUDENTS.
In our introduction we linked Extension with Elementary Education and the Public Library. We sketched an ideal based on the conception that Extension is to be the university of the toiling millions. We are quite prepared, therefore, for the criticism that Extension so far has belonged to the middle class, and above all to the women. We even admit the truth of the criticism, and, so far
D 2
36 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
as it goes, glory in it. We are especially proud of the part Extension is taking in the great move- ment for the education of women. Men have far fewer difficulties in getting touch with living knowledge than have women, and the Extension system comes, therefore, as an especial boon to the women of the middle and even the upper classes. But we believe in the flexibility of the Extension system, and we believe that that flexibility will be put to the chief test when it comes to be applied on the grand scale to the higher education of the masses. We wished, therefore, to turn the reader's attention to this aspect of the movement from the very outset of our discussion. This is a matter to which we shall have to recur ; let us here merely ask what classes are actually being reached ?
Many courses of lectures are delivered in the afternoon. Probably 90 per cent, of the audiences at these are ladies of leisure and older schoolgirls. These are the audiences which are the chief cause of the derision of the narrower type of educational enthusiast. He forgets, in his anxiety for the working men, that all classes should move forward together, and that many of those who have what are called the 'accomplishments/ have had very few opportunities of acquiring some of the broader culture on which generous and tolerant views of life are based. We have, personally, been told several times by shrewd observers, of a change for the better in the conversation and social tone of
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 37
some suburb of a manufacturing town, as the result of the delivery of a course of Extension lectures.
A few courses are delivered at local colleges and other fixed seats of learning. Cambridge Extension Lecturers do much of the work at University College, Nottingham1. Oxford has much of the Literary teaching at the Huddersfield Technical School2. The London Society gives lectures at the Birkbeck Institute, Gresham College, and the Eoyal Holloway College, Egham 3. This is an important point to note when we come to deal with the project of state aid.
The great majority of courses are delivered in the evening to audiences composed in the main either of tradesmen and their families or of work- ing men. These are the rank and file of Extension centres, and our quarrel is not that the tradesmen centres are too numerous, but that the working- men centres are too few. What has already been done is, however, enough to show that if the right kind of teacher is forthcoming, and the financial difficulties are surmounted, the working men are quite ready to avail themselves of opportunities. During the last winter, the Rev. W. Hudson Shaw has delivered for Oxford, courses to audiences almost exclusively composed of working men, of 450 at Hebden Bridge, 600 at Oldham, 500 at
1 Cambridge Extension Reports, 1886-90.
2 Oxford Extension Reports, 1886-90.
3 London Extension Eeport, 1889.
38 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
Todmorden, 260 at Ancoats, Manchester, and 500 at Sowerby Bridge 1. There is a special point in connection with two of these centres. Oldham and Todmorden are managed exclusively by work- ing men through Co-operative Societies2, and all financial difficulties are got over by taking ad- vantage of the sums which such Societies are per- mitted by Act of Parliament to devote to education. The same was true of Barnsley, but the work there has been suspended. When we consider that each of the Societies counts many thousands of mem- bers, we shall realise that these fine audiences are after all, but a small percentage of the numbers that contribute to the cost of the lectures.
In London great success has attended the de- livery of short courses of People's Lectures 3.
Similar facts could be stated with reference to a few Cambridge centres, especially in the North 4.
One very important class remains to be spoken of, the elementary school teachers. They have availed themselves very largely of the system. Since much of the effects filter through them to the next generation, their attendance is generally felt to be of the utmost importance, and it has become a frequent practice to allow them tickets at reduced prices. At a course delivered by one of the writers at Manchester, some two or three years ago, out of
1 Oxford Report, 1889-90.
2 Oxford Report, 1890.
3 London Report, 1889.
4 Cf. Dr. Roberts' Report to Cambridge Syndicate, 1890.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 39
a total average attendance of 400, no fewer than 105 were elementary teachers.
We have spoken of various classes attending the lectures, let us hasten therefore to add that audi- ences wholly of one class are rare. One of the most conspicuous and gratifying characteristics of Extension work is the way in which it brings to- gether students of very different ranks. ' In an examination recently held at a lecture- centre, among those who were awarded certificates of distinction were a national school-mistress, a young lawyer, a plumber, and a railway-signalman V
LONG AND SHORT COURSES.
The last point to which we shall refer in our survey of University Extension, is a matter which has given rise to some controversy. It will be dealt with more completely when we speak of the history of the movement. We mention it here because it still forms the greatest distinction be- tween the methods of the different branches of University Extension. Under the heading £ Sta- tistics,' we drew attention to the shortness of the Oxford courses as compared with those of London and Cambridge. With Oxford, the normal course consists of six lectures, with Cambridge and London of twelve. It is the exception for the Oxford courses to be longer than this, and for the
1 Oxford Keport, 1889-90.
40 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
Cambridge and London courses to be shorter1. Cam- bridge and London refuse to give ' certificates ' for ex- aminations on courses of less than eleven or twelve lectures, Oxford has until this year given them on courses of not less than six 2. It was felt by some of those who were chiefly interested in the Cam- bridge and London work that the Oxford policy was dangerous. It might depreciate the value of the certificate, which had hitherto been associated with the idea of the full course of twelve lectures. Some centres might be led to save themselves the trouble of collecting the necessary funds for twelve lectures, if they were given the opportunity of taking only six instead.
The contention of Oxford, on the other hand, was that a very large number of small towns, and the poorer districts of many large ones, were prevented from adopting University Extension by the con- siderable expense involved in a course of twelve lectures ; that working-men's societies, especially, felt the outlay required for twelve lectures beyond the means at their disposal. It was pointed out that it was particularly desirable that University Extension should spread exactly in those places and among those classes to which experience had shewn the cost of twelve lectures to be often pro- hibitive. There were also a number of towns in
1 Oxford and Cambridge Reports for 1889-90; London Report for 1889.
2 Cf. Oxford, Cambridge and London Regulations.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 41
which University Extension teaching had been suspended. In some of these its original promoters had suffered from a deficit. It was extremely desirable to get these towns to try again. £ Only let these small towns and poorer districts begin on a modest scale/ it was argued, ' and you will find them ready to venture on the work or to renew their connection with it. The local committees consist of men and women who are sincerely inter- ested in education ; you may trust them not to rest content with an incomplete course as soon as they can afford a complete one. Financial reasons, not want of educational interest, hold them back. Many of them, too, are not well off and are unable to afford the risk of a heavy outlay. Above all, they may be trusted not to deal with the two Universities as between rival shopkeepers. They are loyal to the University with which they have been so long connected. While they would no doubt gladly avail themselves of freedom to employ indifferently Oxford and Cambridge lecturers, no local committee would, in a spirit of mere com- mercial competition, transfer its allegiance to the cheapest market.5
To this it was subsequently replied that there was no harm in offering six lectures to towns which could not afford twelve. But that if a town took only half a course, it should be debarred from having an examination on it. The full privileges should be reserved for those who availed them-
42 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
selves of the full system. If a town could have an examination and certificates on six lectures, there would be no incentive for it to make a further effort to have twelve,
Those who believed in the Oxford system still held their ground. The object of University Ex- tension, they pointed out, was to provide systematic teaching for adults. Unless the students attending the lectures were encouraged to look forward to an examination at the end of the course, their attendance might become irregular ; they might become slack in writing weekly exercises ; the quality of their work might deteriorate. Besides, it was expedient to show those towns which could not arrange the full course of twelve lectures, what the University Extension method really was. This would not be done by merely showing them part of it. It was necessary to maintain the com- plete educational system of University Extension wherever it was established.
Such were the two sides of the question in debate. Happily the controversy is now at an end. It has been found that by the short course system a large number of new centres have been founded, but that this increase in the Oxford work has not been made at the expense of either the Cambridge or London systems, both of which have also con- tinued to grow. First, by the arrangement of courses at fortnightly instead of weekly intervals ; next, as their means permitted, by the increase in
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS. 43
the number of lectures, the Oxford centres have steadily lengthened the period of study covered by the course1. And in the present year (1890) a modification has been made in the Oxford regula- tions which has met with the approval of all parties 2. The Oxford certificate will in future be awarded only after courses of twelve lectures : ex- amination will be permitted, as before, on all courses of six lectures and upwards : but students who are successful in examination on the shorter courses will receive, in lieu of a certificate, a printed statement of the examiner's award.
THE MERITS AND DEMERITS OF EXTENSION AS IT is.
We have now completed our sketch of University Extension as it is. We claim that it contains all the elements required in a great teaching system, the personal touch with the leading mind, the read- ing of selected books, the writing of essays and their criticism, the discussion in the class and in the Students' Association, the test of the examina- tion. It includes even the nucleus of a system of residence in the midst of academic surroundings. It does all this at a very small cost. The weak points in the scheme are the lack of sequence in
1 Oxford Report, 1889-90.
2 Oxford Official Circular for University Extension, 1890.
44 UNIVERSITY EXTENSION AS IT IS.
the subjects of the courses ; the fact that, com- paratively speaking, so few young men attend the lectures ; and, above all, the small degree to which the system has been made available f r the working classes, despite the fact that under occasionally fortunate circumstances they have shown that they might be its most enthusiastic supporters. All three weak points are ultimately due to the diffi- culties of men and of money. These will be con- sidered presently. With money the courses might succeed one another in regular educational sequence. If the courses were in sequence, and if the lecturers could be retained through their prime, when they had gathered experience and power of speech, the young men would be attracted. With such lec- turers, and with money to c eapen the courses, the working classes would be reached.
CHAPTER II.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION: HOW IT HAS COME TO BE.
SUCH, then, is the present scope of University Extension. Our next step is to trace the gradual growth of the idea, and the stages by which, from being little more than a pious opinion cherished by a few individuals, it has become an organized system in almost every part of the country.
ORIGIN or THE PHRASE 'UNIVERSITY EXTENSION/
The phrase ' University Extension ' seems to have first become current in the discussions on University reform which were prevalent in Oxford during the years immediately preceding 1850. A great number of influential members of the Univer- sity had become deeply impressed with the import- ance of extending the benefits of University educa- tion to classes of students who were then excluded from the University by its regulations or arrange- ments. So long ago as» 1 845 a number of noblemen
46 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
and gentlemen, both of the clergy and laity, pre- sented to the Hebdomadal Board of the University of Oxford an address which prayed the Board to adopt measures for the admission of a poorer class to the University1. Among the signatures ap- pended to that address were those of Lord Sandon, Lord Ashley, Mr. Gladstone, and others of high distinction. The petitioners did not content them- selves with merely asking the University to adopt their suggestions, but offered to give pecuniary assistance to the scheme. They sought, in the words subsequently used by Dr. Pusey 2, ' to enable the University to extend its benefits to talented and well-conditioned young men, however born, provided they shall be prepared to benefit by its education/ c I was much struck,' added Dr. Pusey, who supported the general purpose of this proposal, ' in looking over the Biographia Britannica for the history of our Divines, to observe how many of them were the sons of tradesmen.' He also sought to confirm the new scheme by an appeal to ancient precedent : ' In older times,' he pointed out, ' the monks of Durham used systematically to send talented boys to be educated at the University.' ' The University,' said Professor Hussey 3, ' seems bound to do something to meet the wants of the
1 Report of Oxford University Commission, 1852, p. 35.
2 Report and Evidence upon the recommendations of Her Majesty's Commissioners, presented to the Board of Heads of Houses and Proctors, Dec. i, 1853. Oxford, 1853, p. 79.
3 Ibid. pp. 233, 234. *
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 47
increasing numbers of the population; and especially to make more opening for those for whom a great part of its advantages were always intended, the youth of promise who have not at present the means of obtaining University education for themselves ; not because they are poor merely, as objects of pity, nor yet as a different order, to be distinguished by badges, but because they show talent and industry and willingness, and desire to improve themselves, and because they ought not to be shut out from advantages open to other persons, with whom they might perhaps compete successfully.' The object of this important movement was well summed up by Mr. Osborne Gordon x, of Christ Church, who said, ' I look for the extension of the University to the poor.'
There was indeed much in the condition of the University of Oxford which called for change. The expenses of collegiate life, especially when compared with the standard of that time, were great, while the subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles required at matriculation, and the subscription to the three Articles of the 36th Canon on presentation for a degree, excluded one class of the community from University education. As to the propriety of making any alteration in the religious tests, there was of course grave difference of opinion both in the Uni- versity and outside it ; but men of all parties seem
1 Report and Evidence upon the recommendations of Her Majesty's Commissioners, p. 198.
48 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
to have felt the importance of facilitating the admission of a poorer class of students to the privileges of University life. The strength and prevalence of this feeling is proved by the evidence given before the Oxford University Commission of 1850. ' I believe/ said Mr. Arthur Clough \ in the considerations which he submitted to that Com- mission, ' I believe in the possibility of a gradual, sure, and ultimately large extension of the old Universities.' ' The ideal of a national University/ Mr. Mark Pattison 2 argued before the same body, 1 is that it should be co-extensive with the nation ; it should be the common source of the whole of the higher (or secondary) instruction for the country.' ' The University/ he continued, quoting from Gordon, ' should strike its roots freely into the subsoil of society, and draw from it new elements of life and sustenance of mental and moral power/
THE SEVEN SCHEMES FOE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION IN 1850.
It appears that this widely-felt desire to extend the usefulness of the University had led to the proposal of several schemes which, as was believed by their advocates, would separately or conjointly accomplish the design which so many influential
1-Dxford University Commission, 1853. Evidence, p. 213. 2 Ibid., Evidence, p. 44.
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 49
graduates had at heart. These c plans for University Extension ' were accordingly summarised by the Commissioners, who thus gave their official stamp to an expression, which had been found to conve- niently designate the movement for the spread of University effort into new and wider fields of national life. Seven schemes of University Exten- sion were mentioned by the Commissioners *, and four of these were discussed in detail. The plans were as follows : —
i. The establishment in the University of new Halls, as independent Societies or in connexion with Colleges.
2,. Permission to Undergraduates to lodge in private houses more generally than at present.
3. Permission to Students to become Members of the University, and to be educated at Oxford under due superintendence, without subjecting them to the expenses incident to connexion with a College or Hall.
4. Admission of persons to Professorial Lectures, to whom the Professors should be authorised to grant certificates of attendance, without any further connexion with the University.
5. The abolition of religious tests on matricula- tion and graduation.
6. The foundation of Theological Schools in Cathedral-cities, and their affiliation to the Univer- sity. The affiliation to the University of Lampeter
1 Oxford University Commission, 1853. Keport, pp. 35-56. E
50 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
College and of the Theological College at Birken- head.
7. The provision of funds by the University for the establishment of professorial chairs in Bir- mingham and Manchester ; sufficient attendance at the lectures of these Professors to be accepted as qualifying for a degree.
The Commissioners did not consider that the examination of all these schemes fell within the scope of their enquiry. Indeed, the fifth proposal, involving the admission of Nonconformists to the University, implied a question which they were in- structed not to entertain. On this head, therefore, they contented themselves with expressing their ' conviction that the imposition of subscription in the manner in which it (was then) imposed in the University of Oxford, habituates the mind to give a careless assent to truths which it has never con- sidered, and naturally leads to sophistry in the interpretation of solemn obligations.'
The fourth proposal, namely, that for the admis- sion to Professorial Lectures of persons who were not matriculated members of the University, was found to have been already anticipated by common practice.
The Commissioners approved of the first three plans for University Extension, and, as is well known, residence in Oxford, but outside the walls of his College, has since become the almost inva- riable experience of every undergraduate, during
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 51
part of his academical career, while the body of Non-collegiate students, residing in Oxford without being attached to any College or Hall, has become an important part of the University.
These schemes, however, were rather of a domestic nature. They have affected the internal life of the University, and have increased for large numbers and many new classes of students, the convenience of its arrangements. But it is rather to the remaining proposals for the affiliation of local Colleges and for the establishment of teaching in large towns, that we turn for the origin of the movement, which is now specifically called Univer- sity Extension. The University has now for a long time adopted the principle of affiliating to itself, on certain conditions, educational institutions out of Oxford, while the University of Cambridge has taken the further step of offering the advantages of affiliation to a number of towns which, while not possessing any collegiate buildings, are yet support- ing a comprehensive and systematic scheme of education.
THE FIRST PROPOSAL TOR UNIVERSITY EXTENSION TEACHING, 1850.
The germ, however, of University Extension, as we now understand it, is to be found in the idea that it would be right and politic for the University to provide funds for the maintenance of Professors
52 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
in Birmingham and Manchester1. This proposal was made by Mr. Sewell, Fellow and Senior Tutor of Exeter College, in a letter addressed to the Vice- Chancellor of Oxford, in the year 1 850, and entitled, £ Suggestions on University Extension/ It is in- teresting to conjecture what results might have flowed from the early adoption of this idea. The judgment, however, of the Commissioners was ad- verse to it. ' If/ they wrote, ' the means of the University were unbounded, its superfluities might possibly be employed on the general purposes of education throughout the country; but such a scheme should not be entertained till it has shown that there is no demand for men and for money in the University itself.' It is to be regretted that the Commissioners did not realise the importance and suggestiveness of Mr. Se well's proposal, and failed to perceive that hardly any more useful task was then imposed on the University than to co- operate with the munificent and earnest friends of higher education resident in the large towns, in the gradual provision of opportunities for higher educa- tion in those great industrial centres. It is fortunate that, at a later time, both the old Universities have found it compatible with the proper care and encouragement of the studies within their own walls, to expend a portion of their revenues in stimulating the love of learning among those whom home ties or business duties absolutely prevent 1 See p. 50.
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 53
from undertaking any prolonged period of residence within the Universities themselves.
Such, then, was the first publication to the country of the idea of University Extension. It is singular that among all the various schemes not one, even remotely, entertains the project of pro- viding in the University the means of higher education for women. But, with this one excep- tion, the proposals for University Extension put forward in Oxford at the time of the first Univer- sity Commission anticipated the various sides of the movement, which ever since has gone on steadily gaining ground. It is probable that, in Cambridge also, the subject received considerable attention, but the great prominence given to its discussion in the report of the University Com- mission, shows that it was particularly in Oxford, that public opinion was first deeply moved by the necessity of adjusting the regulations and require- ments of the University to the needs of large and deserving classes who had been excluded from it.
One circumstance alone would, however, have caused any elaborate scheme for the extension of University teaching in large towns to have been then justly regarded as premature. The University Extension system, as we now understand it, de- pends on our railway system. It would be im- possible for it to work without our modern service of quick and frequent trains. Any one who com- pares the Bradshaw of to-day with the Bradshaw
54 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
of 1850 will see at once one sufficient reason why the idea of University Extension teaching did not strike root when Mr. Se well's proposal appeared. In his pamphlet on University Exten- sion l, Dr. Eoberts points out that the University Extension movement of to-day is fulfilling one of the pious hopes of the founder of Glare College, who desired to see an increase in the number of stu- dents, c to the end that the precious pearl of know- ledge, having been found by them, and made their own by study and instruction in the University, might not be hidden under a bushel, but be spread abroad beyond the University, and give light to them that walk in the dark paths of ignorance.' Under changed conditions, University Extension is thus realising some of the ideals of the past. But the present scheme is not so much to bring to the Universities the modern representatives of those great multitudes who in old days flocked to it. Its aim is rather to take some of the oppor- tunities of University education to them, in the belief that, by adjusting their arrangements to the various needs of the different classes of the com- munity, the Universities, without losing any part of their present dignity and usefulness, will more and more conform to the ideal of truly national institutions.
1 ' The University Extension Scheme as the basis of a system for National Higher Education,' by R. D. Roberts, M.A., D. Sc. (Lond.) Aberystwyth, 1887.
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE , 55
SIR THOMAS ACLAND AND THE BEGINNING or THE LOCAL EXAMINATIONS.
Hardly had the University Commission of 1850 concluded its labours, than a step was taken by an association in London which had indirectly an im- portant effect on the development of University Extension. The Society of Arts established in 1854 a series of examinations for Mechanics' In- stitutes. In 1852 the Society had taken the lead in forming a union of Mechanics' Institutes, to which more than 300 of them became affiliated. Two years later the Society arranged to hold ex- aminations for the members of these Institutes, and to offer certificates of competency to those who acquitted themselves in the examination with credit. These examinations, in which the present Bishop of London acted as one of the examiners, proved completely successful; and were designed specially with a view to stimulating the studies and testing the knowledge of adults.
But, important as was the work among adults, it was soon felt that there was an even greater need for similar examinations designed for boys at school. ' The education of the middle classes,' Dr. Temple wrote to the Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, in April 1857, ' suffers from the want of any definite aim to guide the work of the schoolmasters and from the want of any trustworthy test to distinguish
56 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
between good and bad schools.' Lord Ebrington accordingly, had called attention in 1855 to the examination designed by the Society of Arts for the adult members of Mechanics' Institutes, and in conjunction with Mr. (now Sir Thomas) Acland and the Rev. J. L. Brereton, promulgated a scheme for the examination of middle- class schools in the West of England. The further development of the idea is described in a book subsequently published by Mr. Acland l. It appears from his account that the operations of the Bath and West of England Society for the encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, brought together a number of persons engaged in different occupations, but with a common object in view. Among these persons ' a thirst for knowledge was excited and a consequent sense of the evils of neglected education awakened. Accordingly, a few persons of various shades of opinion, political and religious, having learned to act together and to trust each other, provided a small prize fund with a view to put to a practical test the value which the middle ranks might be disposed to attach to certificates of the progress of their children, if awarded by competent examiners 2.' This Committee, to which Mr. Acland acted as Secretary, was formed at Exeter in the
J Some Account of the Origin and Objects of the New Oxford Examinations for the title of Associate in Arts and Certificates, for the Year 1858. By T. D. Acland. London, 1858.
2 Ibid. pp. 96, 97.
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 57
early part of 1857, and met with substantial en- couragement from the Bath and West of England Society later in the same year. The machinery devised by Mr. Acland consisted of a Local Examina- tion Committee, consisting of thoroughly representa- tive persons resident in the locality, and of a Board of Examiners, in which it is interesting to note the names of Sir Stafford Northcote, Professor Max Miiller, Mr. George Richmond, Mr. John Hullah, and Dr. (now Sir Henry) Acland. But the Local Committee, in order to give to their work as much of an official stamp as was possible under the circumstances, asked the Committee of Council on Education to allow two of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools to co-operate with the examiners locally appointed. The request was granted, and the Lord President instructed the Rev. F. Temple (now Bishop of London) and Mr. J. Bowstead ' to afford assistance in giving effect to the scheme of examination and prizes.'
The examination, which took place in June 1857, was regarded by Mr. Temple as 'the first step towards the improvement of middle- class educa- tion V and similar examinations were organized in the counties of Staffordshire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire, and in South Wales. It was clear that there was beginning a general and spontaneous movement for the improvement of middle-class education, and that 'the intellectual life of the
1 Ibid. p. 192, Mr. Temple's Report.
58 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
people was pushing forth vigorous shoots in various directions V
The details of this local effort are historically in- teresting because they gave the stimulus to the next step in University Extension. Mr. Acland's original scheme was avowedly experimental. If it succeeded, it was his hope that it would be followed up by some recognised authority, his own desire being that the Universities should themselves organize and superintend similar local examinations in different parts of the country. He pointed out c that the religious exclusiveness of the Universities had been removed by Act of Parliament ; . . . that, as regards secular knowledge, they were in a favour- able position for combining much freedom with much exactness . . . that, in the department of the Arts, they had great advantages in their libraries and collections . . . and that many of their members possessed experience of the official work of public education going on in the country2.' It was also pointed out that the many graduates of the Univer- sities who occupied important posts in the large towns, and were connected with the administration of justice and the management of public institutions in country districts, formed a natural body of sup- porters for the new scheme, the success of which would depend on the cordial co-operation between
1 Some Account of the Origin and Objects of the New Oxford Examinations for the Title of Associate in Arts, p. 98.
2 Ibid. p. 10.
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 59
the local committee and the central authorities in the Universities. The great position of the Univer- sities would ' be a strong security that no private crotchets or personal interests would be allowed to disturb the action of a great body of men for the mental cultivation of a free people V
' A career of almost unbounded usefulness/ wrote Mr. Acland in 1858, 'seems open to the Universities if they will respond to the call of the nation for aid in supplying a better general education to the great body of their countrymen. Their fortunate position within reach of, but not within, the metropolis, their traditional associations, their com- parative independence of pecuniary interest, their connection with so many parishes and grammar- schools, all seem to point them out as eminently qualified to give a healthy and liberal tone to school education as a preparation for the busy oc- cupations of agricultural and commercial life, no less than for literary and scientific pursuits V
Such was the new proposal which was put before the Universities. They were asked to extend their usefulness by taking for the first time a definite part in the education of persons who had not been matriculated. Memorials supporting the request poured in from different parts of the country. Interest was aroused first in Oxford, immediately
1 Some Account of the Origin and Objects of the New Oxford Examinations for the Title of Associate in Arts, p. II.
2 Ibid. pp. 98, 99.
60 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
afterwards in Cambridge ; and with little delay the system of local examinations ' of those who were not members of the University ' was adopted by both the old Universities. ' To borrow a happy illustration from the originator of the " Oxford Extension Scheme/'3 wrote Mr. Acland in 1858, ' Oxford has opened a locomotive department, and the first line of rails was laid down by the West of England.'
The new idea was now firmly established. The Universities had recognised their lucational duty towards the country in a wider sense than ever before. And the promoters of the new scheme had devised and tested a system which com- bined local self-government with the advantages of central supervision and management. Local business was entrusted to the voluntary local com- mittees ; the educational policy of the movement was rightly reserved for the Universities them- selves.
Such a sensible and practical arrangement was sure to develope. And, detail by detail, new branches were added to the work. Girls were examined as well as boys : more advanced students as well as children.
It soon however became apparent that the system was capable of a still wider extension. Teaching was required as well as examination. The noble generosity of wealthy citizens was in many great towns stimulating the work of higher
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 61
education. The great movement for the foundation of local colleges, a movement which has given England a new University, had commenced. All over the country there were signs of a freshly quickened desire for knowledge and an eagerness to obtain it at the hands of the best teachers. The higher education of women was making rapid advances. And the c sharp struggle ' which pre- ceded the Education Act of 1870 had already begun.
09
PROFESSOR STUART AND THE BEGINNING OF LOCAL LECTURES.
The next step, therefore, was to make the machinery of the local examinations available for the purpose of local lectures. This great step in University Extension was due to the energy of Professor Stuart.
In 1 867, he received an invitation from an asso- ciation of ladies in the north of England to give some lectures to them1. The President of the Association was Mrs. Josephine Butler, the Secre- tary Miss A. J. Clough. He was asked to lecture on the art of teaching. He replied that he had not
1 Inaugural Address of Professor Stuart at the Second Summer Meeting of University Extension Students in Oxford, July 30, 1889. Report, p. 20. The following account is largely based on that address.
62 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
experience enough to lecture on that subject, but, cas a thing is often best described by showing a piece of it,3 he offered to give a course of eight lec- tures, in which he would endeavour to teach some- thing. There was special point in this offer of a course of lectures : Professor Stuart had been 'vexed with the insufficiency of the single-lecture system which prevailed in connection with Mechanics' Institutes and Literary Societies.' He was con- vinced that if teaching was to be systematic, it must be embodied in a course. Twenty years later Mr. Barnett remarked that University Extension must now aim at substituting for the casual course of lectures (history fortuitously following science, and literature, political economy) the series of courses arranged in some more definite sequence. The first battle, however, of University Extension, when Professor Stuart took up the cudgels, was to substitute the course of lectures by the same teacher for a disconnected series of isolated addresses by separate lecturers. Nor was Professor Stuart alone in his contention. Professor Henry Morley and others along with him, succeeded at last in getting the public to understand that it is much more interesting to follow one man well through a subject than to listen to a succession of men com- plaining that they have not time really to tackle it. Professor Stuart's courses were given in 1867 at Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield. They were well attended, but confined to women only.
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 63
Thus, in its first beginnings, University Extension was set on foot by women. And ever since that time women have formed a large part of University Extension audiences. These first courses of Pro- fessor Stuart were, however, interesting, not only because they were practically the origin of Uni- versity Extension teaching, but because they sug- gested two arrangements which are still important features in the system. These were the syllabus and the weekly exercises. The syllabus was de- vised as a lesson in note-taking : Professor Stuart says that he got the idea from Professor Ferrier of St. Andrews, ' who used, in connexion with some of his more difficult lectures, to dictate a series of heads which were found to be an immense assist- ance.' The other feature, the weekly exercises, were hit upon as a compromise which would avoid the necessity of orally questioning the audience, a chastening, but at the same time embarrassing, ex- perience, which the lecturer agreed with the majority of his students in wishing to avoid. The first course of lectures was followed by many others. Several other graduates were invited to lecture. But the arrangement was made in each case ad hoc, and a difficulty arose from the fact that the lecturers could be offered nothing approaching to permanent employment.
How then was the affair to be systematised ? Professor Stuart's first proposal was 'to form a central committee permanently engaging lecturers
64 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
at a salary, and sub-letting them, so to speak, to local associations.' There was much to recommend this plan : even now there is much to be said in its favour. Had it been adopted, we should to-day have been working University Extension as an affair of business. It would have been * University Extension, Limited.' But there were two obstacles, one which was temporary, another which would always have been fatal. The fatal objection is, that no company, working merely on business methods, could command the same prestige in the educational world as a committee appointed by and representing the Universities. Such a company might conceiv- ably have been freer to make experiments : it would almost certainly have been able to command larger resources of capital for the retention of ex- perienced or promising lecturers. But it would not have enjoyed the same status. It would not have had at its back the same wealth of associa- tions. Its work would not have appealed in the same way to the affectionate interest of the old University rnen who, scattered as they are in positions of influence all over the country, form, as Sir Thomas Acland had seen years before, the natural supporters and local agents of such part of the work of the University as cannot be con- ducted in the University town itself. In the case however of Professor Stuart's proposal, when it was first broached, this objection, though it was doubtless realised, did not prove the immediately
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 65
fatal one. The fatal difficulty was the merely temporary one of want of funds. This drawback would soon have been overcome, but at the time it was insuperable. ' The whole proposal,' said Pro- fessor Stuart, ' was, I suppose, premature/
A new step, however, was taken. Lectures for women were started in Cambridge itself. A house was soon opened for their reception. And thus arose Newnham College, which, together with Gir- ton College, established for the first time a per- manent institution for the education of women in the University. Then quickly followed, from the North of England Council for the Education of Women, a new request for a committee of Univer- sity men to test by examination the attainments of governesses. This led to the establishment at Cambridge of the Higher Local Examinations.
Thus the movement steadily consolidated itself. It had, however, already taken a new departure. One of the junior managers at the Crewe Eailway Works, Mr. Moorsom, wrote to Professor Stuart in 1867, urging him to come and give a lecture to the workmen there. The invitation was accepted. The subject of the lecture was 'Meteors,' and it received a gratuitous advertisement from a remarkable shower of meteors which fell on the day before. The lecture met with such acceptance that it led to the delivery of a course of lectures similar to those which had been given to women. The course at Crewe was followed by one to the members of the
F
66 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
Equitable Pioneers1 Society at Kochdale, an asso- ciation of working men which bears an honoured name in the economic history of England. It was at Kochdale that Professor Stuart invented 'the class/ the period of conversational teaching, often enlivened by brisk episodes of e heckling/ which has ever since been an important feature in the Univer- sity Extension System. The origin of the class was simple. The lectures were illustrated by diagrams. Professor Stuart wanted the diagrams which had illustrated one lecture to remain on the walls till his next appearance, as he proposed again to refer to them. The hall-keeper demurred as, in the interval between the lectures, the society was going to meet in the same hall for the discussion of business. However, leave was at last obtained, and it tran- spired that the members who attended the meeting were so attracted by the diagrams that they stayed behind to discuss them for a whole hour. They had indeed asked the door-keeper to invite Professor Stuart to come to the lecture-room before the next lecture, in order that they might ask him some questions. He did so, and thus began the first University Extension ' class.'
OFFICIAL RECOGNITION OF EXTENSION TEACHING BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.
The rapid growth, however, of the new scheme brought heavier responsibility. It became clear
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 67
that there must be some central organization for the supply of competent lecturers from the Univer- sity. Now, in its system of Local Examinations, the University already supplied examiners. Why not lecturers too? It had the men, it had the machinery, it had the prestige. Accordingly, in November, 1871, Professor Stuart addressed a letter on the subject to the University of Cambridge1. He submitted to the University what was in effect the same proposal as that made to the University of Oxford by Mr. Sewell twenty years before. But in the mean time things had moved forward. The system of Local Examinations had been devised and found to work well. The times were ripe for the new idea. There was evidently a public demand for University teaching. Professor Stuart's own experience had proved the reality of that demand and the possibility of satisfying it. He did not merely fire off a casual suggestion into the air. He came forward with a practical scheme.
' The demand for education exists/ he told the University. Would they supply it or not? 'I believe,' he wrote 2, ' that it is incumbent on us to supply it, and I believe that some such system which will carry the benefits of the University through the country is necessary, in order to retain the University in that position with respect to the
1 A Letter on University Extension, addressed to the Besident Members of the University of Cambridge, by James Stuart. Cam- bridge, 1871.
2 Letter on University Extension, quoted above.
F 4
68 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
education of the country which it has hitherto held, and to continue in its hands that permeating in- fluence which it is desirable that it should possess.5 It was now admitted on all hands that the Univer- sities were not clusters of private establishments, but national institutions. Pressing this home, he argued that some such scheme as he advocated would be c a great step towards making the Univer- sities truly national institutions, and be no less beneficial to them than to the country.'
For, if the University is a national institution, it should so accommodate its arrangements as to make some of them available for everybody. That was the drift of the new demand. ' By permitting the residence of non- collegiate students,' Professor Stuart wrote, ' we have taken a great step towards rendering our Universities accessible to all classes.' But one reform inevitably leads to the suggestion of another. c This expression " all classes ",' he pointed out, f only includes those who can procure some years of continuous leisure, which is far harder to get than the requisite money. Among those classes whose circumstances debar them from residing at a University there exists a widespread desire for higher education of a systematic kind/
Professor Stuart's proposals had at their back the force of the new educational movement. Long and bitter controversy had ended in the Elemen- tary Education Act. A fresh interest had been awakened in the question. The public mind had
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. G9
been prepared for educational advance. The desire for higher education had been quickened. Far- seeing people perceived that, when the seeds of elementary education had been sown, a new genera- tion would arise with new ideals of life and new gifts of knowledge. Something must be done be- times for that generation, or the very education with which the State had decided to equip it would prove a national danger. Education must not end with the school.
But what was to be done ? Would it be enough to offer them mere popular lectures? This, Pro- fessor Stuart said, would be like giving them a stone when they cried for bread. The Universities could supply instead the right kind of teaching and the right kind of teachers. Their high position would cause ' the scheme to be favourably viewed, and enable it successfully to overcome those crotchets and oppositions which every new scheme has to encounter.'
There were three kinds of objector. There was the man who said the Universities could not afford the money: the man who said that, if they esta- blished Extension teaching, the number of under- graduates would decline: and the man who said that the University ought not to court rebuff by making over-sanguine proposals.
Professor Stuart answered them all. To the first he replied that he knew that University funds were not inexhaustible, but ' I do not fear on
70 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
that point, because the nation has always shown itself ready to give and to transfer money into those hands which, it believes, will use it well and for truly national work.' To the second he replied that, so far from diminishing the existing numbers of the University, Extension teaching would act as a feeder to it. To the third he replied that ' in any scheme we must be prepared to meet with dis- appointments and in some quarters with want of response .... I believe,' he continued, c that it is not only our duty to foster and encourage a demand for education wherever it exists, but, by the attitude we assume, to endeavour to call it up where it does not exist or has not the energy to express itself.'
He was right in saying that University Extension would not be without its disappointments. He was also right in his prophecy that it would in no way lessen, but would rather tend to increase, the number of resident students. But his anticipation of national aid for the educational work of Uni- versity Extension has not yet been fulfilled. The State has wisely helped the local colleges : it has not yet helped the local committees which are trying to secure as many as possible of the advan- tages of a local college for small towns.
Professor Stuart's letter led to a shower of me- morials. To consider them, the University ap- pointed a Syndicate in I8721. The Syndicate at
1 The Calendar of Cambridge Local Lectures for 1 880-81. Historical Sketch of the Progress of Local Lectures, p. 5.
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 71
once undertook a systematic enquiry into the alleged demand for courses of University lectures. In the following year they reported in favour of adopting, for an experimental period, the new scheme. They made it however a condition that the requisite funds should be provided by the local authorities. Thus University Extension became an official fact.
THE FIRST PEOGBAMME or UNIVEESITY EXTEN- SION TEACHING.
Its promoters were, of course, to a certain extent in the dark. They could do no more than guess the real extent of the demand for lectures. While the scheme was only talked about, a great many people no doubt took a sanguine view of the desire of their neighbourhood for University teach- ing. Face to face with a formal offer, the accept- ance of which involved a money payment, a certain proportion of the memorialists decided to content themselves with a less comprehen- sive programme than they had originally con- templated. As Professor Stuart has said1, cwe started on too ambitious a scale, and we had to suffer for it.' The promoters had in their mind three different classes of persons : women, young
1 Inaugural Address to the Second Summer Meeting of University Extension Students in Oxford, 1889, p. 33.
T
72 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
men in the position of clerks or shop-assistants, and working-people. The first idea was to have in each town a course specially adapted for each of these classes, and delivered on different days. But this proved, in almost every case, too costly. The larger towns were naturally the first to avail them- selves of the new proposals. They contained a greater number of leisured or educationally-minded people : they furnished a larger area from which to draw subscriptions. For some of these larger towns the full programme was not too ambitious, but for the smaller and poorer towns, after the first burst of enthusiasm had flagged, it was practi- cally out of the question.
THE DIFFICULTIES WHICH IT ENCOUNTERED.
The fact was that in most places no really general demand for higher education existed. It had to be created almost everywhere, and in many towns the work has still to be done. In every place a few of the leading inhabitants, the majority, perhaps, of the professional classes, a fair number of tradesmen, and not a few working-men, were keenly alive to the value of the lectures which the University of Cambridge had decided to offer. There was abun- dant reason that their desire for higher education should be met. But the difficulty was that there were so few people who really felt the desire. Without the assistance of others, they could hardly
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 73
be expected to support the considerable expense of the full programme of lectures. However, the establishment of University Extension Teaching stimulated such people everywhere. It made them eager to secure its advantages for their own town. Perhaps in some cases they overestimated the public interest in the work. But it was even a gain that they should realise the facts. Many persons, when they discovered how languid an interest was taken by their fellow-citizens in higher education, set to work to put things right. And thus in a sense University Extension was instrumental in forming in many towns a kind of educational garrison.
But in a few of the larger towns the complete programme was at once adopted. And, as its direct outcome, the foundation-stone of University College was laid at Nottingham in 1877. The generosity of Mr. Mark Firth led to the establish- ment of a similar college in Sheffield. The College of Science in Leeds (now the Yorkshire College) soon appointed Professors of Literature. In Liver- pool the movement began which has resulted in the foundation of University College.
It is, of course, far from being the case that the establishment of these colleges was due only to University Extension. They were the outcome of the same general movement of which University Extension is only one of the expressions. But at the same time there can be no doubt that the local supporters of these great institutions found in the
74 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
new efforts of the Universities, if not direct assistance, at all events stimulus and encourage- ment.
In the foundation of one of these local colleges, Oxford took a prominent part. This was in the case of University College, Bristol. The movement for the establishment of that college began among the inhabitants of Bristol themselves ; and to aid this movement, two Oxford Colleges (New College and Balliol) offered to give ^300 a year for five years l. The Bristol College was opened in October, 1876.
THE FOUNDATION OP THE LONDON EXTENSION SOCIETY.
In the meantime something had been done in London. In 1876 a society was formed there, under the presidency of Mr. Goschen, for the Extension of University Teaching, the three Universities, Oxford, Cambridge and London, consenting to send re- presentatives to a joint board, the functions of which were to advise the council of the society on educational matters.
1 University of Oxford Commission, Oct. 1877. Minutes of Evidence of Rev. B. Jowett, p. 155.
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 75
THE UNIVEESITY OF OXFORD ENTERS ON THE WORK.
The question of University Extension Teach- ing was brought before the Oxford Commission of 1877 by Mr. Jowett (now Master of Balliol). He pointed out 'the considerable movement for secondary adult education then going on in the large towns/ and urged that the Universities should 'take a little pains' about it. In conclusion he made two practical proposals to the commissioners : c one that there should be an office for University Extension and a secretary paid by the University ; and the other that the tenure of non-resident fellow- ships should be capable of extension in the case of persons lecturing or holding professorships in the large towns V
The year after Mr. Jowett gave his evidence, the University of Oxford offered for the first time to make arrangements for University Extension .lec- tures on its own account. As had been the case five years before in Cambridge, the University supplemented its machinery for Local Examinations by a system of Local Lectures, while, by a happy coincidence, the Delegates appointed as their secre- tary for this new purpose Mr. Arthur Acland, whose father had been chiefly instrumental in framing the parent-system of Local Examinations.
1 University of Oxford Commission, Oct. 1877. Minutes of Evidence of Rev. B. Jowett, p. 155.
76 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
The new scheme was now fairly launched. There followed a period of somewhat slow growth. In some places the new ground was ready for the new work. Here there was small difficulty. But in most towns it was an uphill fight to keep the courses going. In many the work flickered, and then for a time went out. For the great majority of towns in England, University Extension was before its time. And this was especially true of the less populous manufacturing centres and the smaller country towns. It became clear that all towns were not ready for the same dose of Uni- versity Extension Teaching, and that some could only take it in homoeopathic quantities.
There was need therefore for two things : for patience to wait until the public mind had caught the desire for University Extension courses, and for some re-adjustment of the system in order to make it more available for the smaller towns and the poorer districts of large ones. The experience gained in the first ten years of University Exten- sion threw light on the best ways of overcoming the difficulties which impeded its further develop- ment.
It was obvious that University Extension must be made cheaper. Many towns, which would gladly have tried the scheme, shrank from the pecuniary liability which its adoption would involve. Some few places looked back ruefully on a previous deficit, and, generally speaking, such of the working-
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 77
men's societies as possessed funds available for educational purposes, thought the lectures too dear. But the smaller towns and the poor districts of the larger cities were exactly the quarters in which many of the promoters of University Extension were most anxious that the movement should spread. In other words, financial difficulties ham- pered its growth on the two sides where growth was most needed. How could these difficulties be overcome? The fees paid to the lecturers could not be reduced, if the services of the right kind of men were to be retained: local expenses had already been brought down to the lowest level. The one possible remedy was to offer shorter courses ; to give localities, as it were, a sample of University Extension teaching. Such an arrange- ment would go far towards halving the cost, and would enable the poorer centres to make a be- ginning. It would also, what was of real practical importance, make it easier for a small group of earnest students, themselves unable to meet the expense of a larger course, to raise in their locality subscriptions to the necessary amount. A few poor students, who would despair of begging guarantees for an outlay of ^60, would attack in good heart the smaller task of raising ^30. And it was felt that the local committees might be safely trusted to work their way up to the longer course, with its proportionately heavier expenses, when they had once contrived to make both ends meet
78 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
in the smaller venture. For, if University Ex- tension Teaching was a good thing and suited to local needs, it seemed obvious that the local com- mittees would soon desire a larger measure of it.
THE NEW DEPARTURE IN 1885.
This system of shorter courses had been, it is true, occasionally employed before, but its bold adoption practically dates from the autumn of 1885. In that year the whole movement started forward. Oxford began work on a larger scale, its new vigour being largely owing to the initia- tive of the present Headmaster of Eugby, then President of Trinity College. A conspicuous fea- ture of the Oxford work was its employment of the short course system. There were naturally serious objections to the policy. Half a loaf may be better than no bread, but towns which can afford a complete system of teaching need not be encouraged to content themselves with one that is incomplete. The offer of a shorter course might relax energies which were really capable of se- curing a full one. It is undeniable that there was great weight in this view of the question. How- ever, the policy of offering short courses has been amply justified by its results. It has practically brought University Extension within the reach of every town in England.
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 79
THE OXJTOBD 'TRAVELLING LIBRARIES ' AND SUMMER MEETING.
Oxford has added two other features to the work. It began the system of Travelling Libraries in 1885, and it started the Summer Meeting in 1888. A great difficulty with many University Extension students is that they cannot lay their hands on books of reference for the course. They are not all within reach of good public or private libraries. It was a good thing to send down to each lec- ture-centre a fair selection of the books recom- mended by the lecturer for study during his course. Of the Summer Meeting we have already spoken. In 1885, f°ur Extension students from Northumber- land had been enabled by the offer of prizes, to re- side for a month's study in Cambridge. But the idea of a general Summer Meeting of University Exten- sion students was due to a suggestion made by Mr. Charles Rowley of Manchester to a small committee which, at the instance of Dr. Paton of Nottingham, had met to consider the possibility of introducing into England a system of Reading Circles, similar in point of arrangement to those which centre in America in the assembly at Chautauqua.
It was at once felt that by means of a Summer Meeting in one of the University towns the Ex- tension movement would be able to avail itself of the services of those resident teachers who, though
80 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
friendly to the work, are prevented by their University duties from taking any active part in it as lecturers. The students too would enjoy the great advantage offered by the University museums, collections and libraries, and would gain stimulus from their intercourse with one another. In short? it would introduce into University Extension the one element in which, from the University point of view, it had been chief] y lacking — the element of c residence.'
The idea of the Summer Meeting was at once taken up in Oxford, where already, on a small scale, arrangements had been made during the Long Vacations of some previous years for the accommodation, within College walls, of elemen- tary schoolmasters and others. The details of the programme for a large meeting of students were worked out in the Oxford Extension office, and finally, under the joint supervision of the Delegates and a special committee of residents, the first University Extension Summer Meeting was held in August, 1888. Another and still more successful meeting followed in 1889, while in the present month (August, 1890) meetings are being held both at Oxford and Cambridge.
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 81
AN ANTICIPATION OF THE IDEA OF THE SUMMER MEETING.
It subsequently transpired that, just as Mr. Sewell in 1850 had virtually anticipated the idea of University Extension Teaching, so another writer had made a happy forecast of the Summer Meeting. In a letter to the Times of Oct. 15, 1874, the Rev. E. S. Ffoulkes, the Vicar of St. Mary's, Oxford, wrote as follows : —
'The practical account of the matter is that Oxford is wanted by the University for six months in the year, and no more. Why, then, should Oxford be debarred from accommodating another University for the remaining six ? It would be a vast saving to the nation if the same buildings which serve for one University could serve for two. ... Or ladies might be invited to form them- selves into a University for six months. Or, again, to suggest the form which would involve least change, why should not candidates for the Local Examinations be given the option of a residence in College rooms, under proper surveillance, for the four summer months which constitute the Long Vacation, to prepare for their examinations ? It is quite possible that numbers of middle-class men would only be too glad to avail themselves of a University curriculum, could it be achieved by four months' residence continuously during the
a
82 HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE.
summer. Oxford could easily be provided with a staff of Tutors and Professors from its existing University to officer a second. And how cheap and how productive of work would that term be, which lasted a period of four months without a break, and whose days were such as to need neither coal nor candle ; nor other light than that of the sun to give twelve hours of study. . . . Positively the only change which this would necessitate, Would be that colleges should let their rooms furnished, so as to have them at their disposal for the whole year/
THE NATURAL CHARACTER OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNIVERSITY EXTENSION.
We have now traced the history of University Extension from its first beginnings to its present form. So short a sketch of so varied a movement must necessarily be incomplete. A great debt is owing to many workers whose labours and whose names cannot even be mentioned here. But enough has been said to show how naturally the whole systeni has grown up. One change has led to another, each development seems to have suggested a further one. The extension of the advantages of University teaching to one class brought about its further extension to a second; the machinery of local examinations seemed
HOW EXTENSION HAS COME TO BE. 83
naturally to lend itself to the purposes of local lectures.
It could hardly have been otherwise. For it was inevitable that, the more the country came to care for education, the heavier would be the claims made on the activity and resources of the Uni- versities as representative of the highest education in the land. The movement has gone forward without serious check. The area of its operations has been very greatly extended : the methods of its organization have been in all departments im- proved. There remain, however, serious difficulties in the system, and the question which we now must face is how those difficulties can be met.
G 2
CHAPTER III.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION: HAS IT A FUTURE 1
IN the foregoing pages we have sketched the system of University Extension as it now exists, and have traced its growth from small beginnings to its present magnitude. It has been successful beyond the expectation of its most ardent sup- porters. Is it, however, destined to take its place among the permanent institutions of the country ? Or is it merely a mushroom growth which will die down and disappear ? Has its rapid development been due to the fact that it both meets and stimu- lates a real and growing demand in the country for higher adult education, or merely to novelty which will fade away and to the ardour of a few men who will forsake it ? Such are the questions which are being asked by many competent ob- servers, some of whom, while friendly to the move- ment, are a little distrustful of the future of what one of them has called 'the Salvation Army of Education.'
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ? go
The question of the future is a question of men. It is necessary, therefore, to enquire what different kinds of workers University Extension needs. Now the personnel of the system may be shortly de- scribed as the lecturer and his audience, the local organizers who provide the audience, and the central organizers who provide the lecturer. The system exists for the sake of the students ; three distinct kinds of workers combine to meet the students' wants. Let us consider the different characteristics which it is desirable that these different workers should possess.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION NEEDS MEN. i. LECTURERS.
It is clear that University Extension is a special kind of work, and it follows that the man who is fully to succeed in it will need a combination of qualities. It is in reality a new profession, and cannot be casually recruited from among those who feel themselves unlikely to succeed in any of the more recognised callings. University Ex- tension is, in fact, in competition with the other professions for the services of the best men whom the Universities turn out. It is an occupation which must always tax the strength and the re- sourcefulness of the men who engage in it. And, while this will be the case even when the work
86 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ?
has settled down into a more humdrum stage, it is yet more true of the present time when it has still to be pushed forward as an experimental scheme, and while large sections of the public have to be convinced of its usefulness. Moreover, the lecturers are called upon to represent their Uni- versity in a very conspicuous manner. As the Vice-Chancellor of the University said at the Ex- tension Conference held in Oxford in 1887, 'The lecturers whom we send through the country are a kind of missionary ; wherever they go, they carry on their foreheads the name of the University they represent. To a great many of those persons with whom they come in contact, it is the only opportunity afforded of what Oxford means and what is meant by the powers of an Oxford edu- cation1/ It is of the highest importance, therefore, that the profession of University Extension teach- ing should command and attach to itself the ser- vices of men who are not unworthy to represent the University.
A man who is choosing his work in life naturally considers two things : his own special qualifications, and the career which is offered by the calling for which those qualifications seem to fit him. Our attention is now claimed by the qualifications which are desirable for the career of a University Extension lecturer.
1 Report of a Conference in Oxford on the Extension of University Teaching. Oxford, 1887, p. 30.
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ? 87
In the first place, any lecturer who is to take an active part in the work must be strong enough to bear considerable fatigue. His occupation entails long and frequent journeys. In the future, the amount of travelling may, in the case of some of the lec- turers, be reduced to a minimum : groups of neigh- bouring towns, separated from one another by short distances only, may combine together to retain for brief periods the whole time of a small staff of lecturers. Those whom the Master of Balliol once compared to 'local preachers/ may thus re- ceive appointments to special ' circuits ' for a short term of years. But it will always be incumbent on some of the lecturers, and it is now incumbent on all of them, to make long journeys from one centre to another. It is this need of considerable physical strength which makes it doubtful whether many women, admirably adapted as some of them have proved to be for the work, will ever be able to undertake much of it or to make it their chief occupation. Moreover, the task of repeatedly lec- turing to large audiences involves strain and ex- citement. The very intensity of the interest which the good lecturer takes in his work carries with it the danger of overstimulation and consequent reaction.
Next, on the side of knowledge, the lecturer must possess some University distinction as evidence that he is competent to teach the subject, or group of subjects, on which he proposes to lecture. It is,
88 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE 1
however, the man of sound knowledge and many interests, rather than the learned specialist, who is needed for the work of University Extension. Mere knowledge of his subject is not enough. He will often have to lecture to people who need convincing that it is a subject of interest and importance to them. In order, then, to realise the best way of teaching it, he must be able to put himself in their place : he must be capable of taking an outside view of his subject. He must also be able to make his hearers feel the place which it occupies in the wide field of knowledge ; he must know how to appeal to the varied information possessed by an audience consisting largely of adults, in such a way that each may find in his previous knowledge a foundation for his new study. The lecturer does not deal with children, but with grown men and women. He must therefore make their practical experience of life tell on the subject which he com- mends to their attention. Further, he must seek to communicate to his students a correct impres- sion of the different importance of the different parts of his subject; he must have instinctive tact in selecting salient points.
But he has to address large audiences, and not to teach in small class-rooms where a conversational method of instruction is suitable. He must have some of the powers which go to make a good platform- speaker. He cannot afford to bore his hearers, for they are not compelled to come to listen to him
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE \ 89
again. It is his difficult task to combine the lucidity and force of good platform-speaking with the accuracy and precision of language which characterise the scholar.
His success as a teacher will depend on his convincing his audience that he is in intel- lectual sympathy with them. It will not do for him intellectually to despise them. He is facing an audience which comprises persons whose ex- perience has lain in channels of which he himself knows little or nothing. In a sense, he is a specialist in one subject, addressing persons who are themselves specialists in fifty others. The re- lation then between the lecturer and his audience is rightly one of mutual respect. Many indeed there will be among his hearers who have been compelled by other claims, of household duty or of business life, to forego the opportunities for study which he himself has enjoyed. But this does not mean that they have experienced in their lives none of the mental discipline, the concentrated application, the need of judgment and criticism, which have been the forces education has brought to bear on his own life. Above all things, the lecturer must have moral earnestness, and must care deeply for the subjects which he teaches. He must therefore have a high ideal of the responsi- bilities and possibilities of his occupation.
He will have to come in contact with many different classes of people : he will often have
90 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ?
to lecture to ladies in the afternoon, and to work- ing men at night. This will call for a good deal of skill in handling his subject, so as to present it in a form suitable for both kinds of audience. It will not do for his lectures to be stereotyped.
Again, in many places his advice will be sought on matters of organization. The most successful lecturers have been those who, like Mr.Moulton, of Cambridge, have given great attention to the practical means of arranging associations of students, federations of centres, and other matters which, though primarily concerned with the business side of the work, are still of importance to the teacher, because they consolidate the system in which he is employed, or improve the material with which he has to deal. A lecturer with a turn for organization will thus find constant opportunities for usefully employing it. University Extension, in a word, needs men who belong exclusively neither to the academic nor to the business worlds, but who can sympathise with the aims and interests of both.
Such is the kind of lecturer that is wanted for the purposes of University Extension. It will be at once said that it is out of the question to hope for such paragons ; that they do not exist ; and that, if they did, the life of University Exten- sion has nothing in it to tempt them. Our answer to this criticism must be that we are only describ- ing an unattained ideal, but that you are more likely to get such men if you say plainly that you
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE 1 91
want them. We have stated the qualities, as many as possible of which it is desirable that the ideal lecturer should possess. We are far from saying that University Extension is a forlorn hope unless every lecturer possesses all of them.
And a good deal can be done by having some- thing to aim at. When a man takes up University Extension lecturing, he is bound to be rather in the dark as to what is expected of him, and rather at a loss to know how best to prepare himself for a work of which he can only guess the difficulties. It is therefore important to consider how such a man can be helped. Can he serve an apprentice- ship which will teach him his business ? Can he be given anything worthy of the name of training ? Can a supply of good lecturers be artificially created ? Or is it wholly a question of temperament and natural gifts, which no training can give ?
THE TRAINING OF LECTURERS.
The truth probably is that without certain na- tural qualifications a man can never become a good lecturer. And some few men may perhaps be gifted enough to dispense with any formal training. Their earlier experience may have been of a kind to prepare them for this special work. But in the case of the majority, it seems reasonable to suppose that a method of training could be devised, which
92 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ?
would develope natural gifts and make good material into better.
Such training however is beset with many diffi- culties. No University Extension centre likes to be practised on. When a committee pay for a lecturer, they naturally want a man who knows how to do his work. Therefore, when a lecturer accepts an engagement, he must go out ready to succeed. But this is like telling him that, when he is thrown into the water, he must be able to swim. Some- thing may be done, of course, by charging different fees for different lecturers according to their ex- perience. A centre would then, if it liked to take raw material, get it cheap. But it so happens that the towns which find it most difficult to raise funds for Extension Lectures are generally those for which an experienced lecturer is most needed. The local, promoters are often new to the work ; they want therefore a man who knows how to help them by the practical suggestions which a young lecturer is less able to make. And the probability is that when a centre has only been established with difficulty, the lecturer will have to deal with an audience which needs a kind of lecture that is extremely hard to give. It is an old saying that a man must know a great deal of his subject before he can teach the elements of it. A young lecturer fresh from his studies is almost always more difficult to follow, and more elaborate in his treatment, than one who has more know-
I
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ? 93
ledge and experience. He has not yet learnt what to leave out. Now the danger of charging lower fees for young lecturers is that the very centres which need an experienced man may content them- selves with comparative inexperience because it is cheaper. On the other hand, it is obviously reason- able that the fee paid for a lecturer should bear some sort of relation to his experience and merit. The local committee which engages and pays for him, hopes to recoup itself by the sale of tickets of admission to the lectures. It is clear, therefore, that an attractive lecturer at a high fee may be in the end as cheap as a less attractive lecturer at a lower one. The practical upshot of these considera- tions is that different fees are rightly charged for lecturers of different experience, but that it would be a mistake to offer, even at the lowest fee of all, a class of lecturers who had still to learn the rudi- ments of their business. Every one who goes out to lecture must somehow or other have learnt his trade.
But how can he learn it without accepting an ordinary paid engagement ? It may be pointed out that many a man accepts a post as a school- master who has never done any teaching. Why should not then a lecturer accept an engagement before he has done any lecturing? The answer to this lies in the difference between the positions of a lecturer and of a schoolmaster. The latter is usually engaged for a considerable period — a term
91 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE" 1
or a year. His employer thinks it worth his while to put up with a possible period of inefficiency, trusting that afterwards the services of the new-comer will compensate for previous waste. But the untrained lecturer is only invited to give, say, six lectures, or at most twelve. However quickly he learns his work, he will be almost at the end of his course before he has understood the best way to deliver it. Then, the young schoolmaster is only one of a staff of teachers ; he finds himself one of a com- bination; his own work is only part of a great organized effort of teaching ; the experience of his senior colleagues makes up for his own want of experience ; he can get advice from them ; the efficiency of the school is not simply dependent on him. The young .er, on the other hand, has
to stand alone: whatever he does is bound to be noticed, and the fortunes of the course rest, so far as teaching goes, on his unaided exertions. Yet again, the young schoolmaster is dealing with pupils whose attendance is compulsory ; they have not themselves paid to be taught by him ; they sometimes even derive satisfaction from his inex- perience. The young lecturer, on the contrary, addresses voluntary hearers ; if they are bored by him, the remedy is in their own hands : they need not come again1.
1 It is worth noting that, even in the case of schoolmasters, the need of training is being felt. The Headmasters of Clifton and Winchester are making experiments in this matter.
HAS. EXTENSION A EUTCTRE 1 95
In training himself for the special work of University Extension a man has another great difficulty to overcome. He has to teach himself to speak well in public. This may be scouted as impossible. But it should be observed that we are not requiring from him any remarkable gift of elo- quence. If he happen to have such a gift, so much the better. All that is absolutely wanted from a lecturer is that he should be able to put his thoughts into clear and forcible words, to arrange his points in logical order, and to speak them from a platform in a way to which it is pleasant to listen. Higher gifts of speech than this may be born in a man, but not made by him. The art, however, of straightforward and effective platform- speaking is one that pro* «. almost any man, who has the necessary physical qualifications and the necessary perseverance, can attain for him- self. It is obvious, however, that it will be a help to him if he has been trained to face an audience and to address it. In this matter, it would appear that the ordinary Englishmen enjoys fewer advantages than the ordinary American. The American schoolboy is trained for public speaking. In his interesting Notes on American Schools and Training Colleges1 Dr. Fitch quotes the following passage from the programme of one of the Normal Schools in Massachusetts : — c No
1 Report of the Committee of Council on Education. London, 1889. Appendix to Mr. Fitch's Report, p. 500. Dr. Fitch's Notes are now published separately by Messrs. Macmillan.
96 HAS EXTENSION A FUTtJEE ?
efforts are spared to train the pupils in self- reliance. It is to this end that special importance is attached to platform exercises. These occupy a half hour or so every day, and during this period pupils volunteer, each for five minutes or more, to read or recite or talk to the school upon any sub- ject which they may have chosen. At such a time they have constantly to meet the criticism and questions of teachers and fellow-pupils ; and thus the exercise has been found to be valuable, not only in training the pupils to use the English language with facility and force, and to speak with distinctness and accuracy, but in bringing them face to face with the sort of difficulties that they may be expected to meet in their profession.5
And in the University itself it seems to be becoming rarer than it used to be for a man to train himself by speaking to large audiences. There are indeed no audiences in England to which it is better practice to speak, than those which assemble for the weekly debates in the Uni- versity Union Societies. The value of the ex- perience gained in addressing them lies in the fact that they do not hesitate to express their feelings. But of late years, in Oxford at all events, it has become less the rule for a man with a turn for public speaking to go to the Union. A great number of small debating societies have sprung up in the different colleges. Men feel it perhaps more patriotic to support these college
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE? 97
societies. They find themselves among friends. It is also less of an effort to address a small society than the Union audience. Less trouble need be given to preparation. The speaker does not court public failure. But, for these very reasons, a man loses a great deal Who confines himself to the smaller societies and does not venture to address the larger one. He often falls into a desultory, conversational style of speaking. He contents himself with a slipshod manner of speech, because he has never accustomed himself to conditions which, for success, require him to take a great deal of trouble, not only with what he says, but with how he says it.
Such are the chief difficulties in the way of training lecturers for University Extension. At Oxford there is yet another difficulty, which is not unimportant. This is the absence from the University curriculum for men (not for women), of any systematic training in English Literature. Into this question, which has its controversial aspects, we do not propose to enter. We are not here concerned with the question of a School of Literature. We will only remark that the present arrangements of the University make it far more difficult to find a young man who is competent to lecture on literary subjects than on history, philosophy, political economy or any branch of natural science.
98 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE?
THE OXFORD METHOD OF SELECTING LECTURERS.
IN spite of all these obstacles, something has been done in Oxford to train lecturers for University Extension. When a young man thinks of seeking appointment as a lecturer, he sends an application to the Delegates. He must have passed the exam- inations required for a degree. In order that the Delegates may satisfy themselves as to his com- petence to teach the subject which he offers, he gives a reference to his College Tutor. The ap- plicant also has to show that he has already lectured in public with success. If his application is entertained, he comes to the office and is told all about the system. He reads the official papers. Generally he has an interview with a senior lecturer. He tries to put himself in touch with the work and to realise its conditions. Next, he has to write a syllabus of a course of lectures. This is submitted to the criticism of an experienced lecturer. The applicant is then required to deliver in Oxford to a private audience the course of lectures of which he has already compiled the syllabus. He is not paid for giving the lectures. They are sometimes delivered to a school, but usually to the Oxford Diocesan Training College for Elementary Teachers. He has there as his
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ? 99
audience a number of students who are themselves being trained to teach. At most of the lectures, the Secretary and perhaps one of the Delegates are present. After the lecture, they frankly criticise him. The criticisms of the staff of the Training College generally confirm their verdict. When the course is over, the candidate's application is again considered. If the trial course has gone badly, the candidate commonly himself withdraws his application, or asks that decision may be post- poned until he has had further practice. If the course has been successful and the candidate is approved, he revises his syllabus in the light of the experience which he has already gained. A last step remains, which is perhaps the most important of all, but which want of funds has prevented from being often taken in practice. The Delegates vote a small sum to enable the accepted probationer to visit certain typical centres and see the senior lecturers at their work. When this is done, the applicant is added to the list of lecturers, and his revised syllabus is printed for him for circulation in the centres.
Of course, this little experiment in the way of training is very incomplete. But it serves as a rough-and-ready means of eliminating the unfit. It is true that the process greatly improves those who undergo it. But its chief advantage is that it picks out the men who would be justified in seek- ing employment in University Extension.
H 2,
100 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE?
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION NEEDS MEN. 2. ORGANIZERS.
But we have seen that University Extension needs organizers as well as lecturers. The Bishop of London, speaking from his long experience in this side of University work, told the Oxford Con- ference in 1887 that 'what is now particularly wanted is really good organization V Now organi- zers are needed at both ends of the line — in the local centres and in the central offices. The nature of their duties will have been indicated by the foregoing account of the University Extension system. Nothing need be said here beyond the obvious thing that the work of the organizers is not without difficulty, that the success of the system largely depends on its manifold details being- attended to with punctuality, accuracy and method : that it is desirable for the organizers to be acquainted with the needs and circumstances of different parts of the country and with the kind of men who will suit these different conditions; that there is need for a good deal of thought in adjusting the machinery of the system to meet new wants ; and that it is impossible for an undertaking, which
1 Report of Oxford Conference on University Extension, 1887, p. 27.
HAS EXTENSION A EUTURE ? 101
depends on the smooth working of most of the railway lines in England and on the health, for the worst part of the year, of sixty different lecturers, not to be prolific in emergencies.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION NEEDS MONEY. i. LOCALLY.
These then are the different kinds of men on securing whose services the future of University Extension depends. It is to be believed that there will always be forthcoming a number of suitable persons who care enough for national education to embark on the work. But the nature of the occu- pation is too arduous, its claims on time are too exacting, for it to be possible to depend on purely voluntary assistance. If the first requirement of University Extension is men, its second and con- sequent need is money to support their work.
Now money is required for each of the two chief departments of University Extension. It is needed for the central offices and for the local organizers.
The local organizers want money because their financial position is at present in many places, if not precarious, at any rate unsatisfactory. We have said that each lecture costs the students a shilling a head. This is true, but only on an
102 HAS EXTENSION A F0TUKE ?
average. There are many places where the stu- dents are so few that the cost which falls on each of them is twice, or more than that amount. And not only many small towns, but great districts where the population consists chiefly of the work- ing classes, are debarred from University Extension because of its expense. Even a shilling a lecture is prohibitive to many working men and fco those dependent on them. Again, in almost every centre the promoters depend partly on subscriptions. In other words, the work, to a certain extent, depends on the contributions of those who do not themselves regularly attend the lectures — that is, on the educa- tionally-minded benevolent public. It is not satisfactory that in so many places a necessary ingredient of the local arrangements should be a temporary subscription list.
Speaking broadly, then, the University Exten- sion centres are not well off. There are enviable exceptions ; but, taking the movement as a whole, there are not many Local Committees with a balance of £50 at their bankers.
Now this want of comfortable means is very bad for an educational work. It pinches it. It compels the local promoters to have an eye not only to what is ideally best for their students but also to what will be tempting to the public. It forces them sometimes to refuse the best thing and to content themselves with some more attractive second-best.
HAS EXTENSION A FUTUEE ? 103
And this financial difficulty is really at the bottom of the failure of many centres to arrange the courses in a systematic sequence. They cannot afford to do so. They know that if they embarked on a three years' course of history or literature — such as the Extension is perfectly ready at any moment to provide, and thousands of the more zealous students are eager to undertake — they would frighten their public. Many people, on whom they rely for the sale of a certain and neces- sary proportion of tickets, would start back from the scheme as too arduous and too prolonged. Such persons are a minority of the audience, but their subscriptions are necessary, and therefore their taste for variety has to be considered. And so, instead of definitely undertaking a three years' course of study, many local committees eschew sequence or disguise it. They either hop about from history to literature or from science to politi- cal economy, or they take first the history of a period, then its literature, then its economics, and so on. There is much to be said, of course, for both these plans. Variety stimulates, and it is well to learn all about a period from every side. But, at best, either plan is a pis aller. And the pity of it is that it is adopted, not because the Local Com- mittees always like such an? arrangement best, but because their purses are not deep enough for any- thing else. It is want of money which causes want of educational sequence.
104 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE?
Of course there are numerous exceptions. The Cambridge affiliated centres undertake excellent courses of systematic study extending over three or four years, and comprising six full courses of lectures on either Arts or Sciences, with two other full courses drawn from the complementary group 1. And many of the Oxford and London centres have made a brave fight for sequence. The London Society has arranged a very good series of courses at Gresham College, which thus serves as a central meeting point for the London students 2. Every year more and more Oxford centres succeed in attaining sequence 3. But the struggle is a hard one.
And it must be admitted that, when a new centre begins, the most important thing of all is to get a good lecturer. For such centres a sequence of subjects is desirable, but a sequence of good lecturers is essential. However, when all is said, we are bound to admit that a broad defect of the University Extension system, as it stands to day, is that the majority of centres cannot afford to devote their whole energies to arranging courses in educational sequence.
If they had more money, they would do iiv at once. They want money too for other purposes. The labour of local organization grows heavier year by year ; it involves much clerical work ; a
1 Cambridge Keports, 1887-90.
2 London Reports, 1888, 1889.
3 Oxford Reports, 1887-90.
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ? 105
good deal of it is necessary but dull ; it often has to be done under great pressure of time ; it in- volves collecting money. Now it would be difficult to praise too highly the devotion with which the Local Committee and their energetic secretaries have applied themselves to these tasks. They have cheerfully borne an ever increasing burden of secre- tarial work. Nothing has proved their interest in the movement more clearly than the willingness with which they have sacrificed leisure to the need of organization. But, as the work grows, they will begin to want help. Already in large centres they require clerical assistance. Many of the local secretaries, who are best fitted for the work by reason of their business experience or faculty for organization, are very naturally otherwise fully occupied. Again and again it has happened that, after two or three years of excellent service, such a secretary has been obliged to resign. With paid clerical assistance, he might have continued to direct the local organization for many years. Be- sides, a movement gains by having an office. An office keeps up the tradition of the work. One secretary resigns and another succeeds ; the clerk maintains the routine. The office becomes a per- manent centre, a nucleus for further extension. And eventually University Extension Committees will want suitable buildings. The best thing would be that the lecture room should be under the same roof as, or in close connection with, the Public
106 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE?
Library. There has been recently given to the town of Barnsley such a building for use as a Public Library on the understanding that some of the rooms should be employed for educational purposes. Every town should have, so far as building and library are concerned, its own local college. So far as its professors are concerned, it would look to the Universities and co-operate with other towns. Acting thus, it would have at a small cost, teaching on a wide range of subjects and the stimulus of a constant succession of new teachers.
There are many other purposes for which the Local Committees need money. It is right that they should always rely partly on local subscriptions, but they should not remain in bondage to them. They should be able, if necessary, to make arrange- ments long in advance without incurring rash liabili- ties. They should be free, so far as money goes, to seize chances of getting good lecturers. They should be enabled to supplement their popular courses with others more exclusively adapted for small classes of students. Each considerable town should have a variety of courses going on at the same time. Many brilliant teachers excel in inspiring small classes, but are ineffective when they deal with a large audience. The services of such men should be more largely made use of in University Exten- sion work. Then, again, University Extension has hitherto hardly penetrated into the villages. It is
HAS EXTENSION A FUTUEE \ 107
almost exclusively an affair of towns and suburbs. Local Committees would gladly, if they could afford it, extend the courses to the villages in their neighbourhood, and into adjacent towns which had not yet made trial of the system.
It is clear, therefore, that the development of the work is hampered by want of means. The need for money is almost entirely a local need. It is the work of the local organization, not that of the central office, which chiefly needs larger means.
UNIVEESITY EXTENSION NEEDS MONEY. 2. AT HEAD-QUARTERS.
There is, however, in our opinion, a no less ur- gent need of larger funds at head-quarters. Far less is wanted there than in the centres, but there is need for something. It should be pos- sible to engage lecturers at a permanent stipend. At present a lecturer can hardly count on his income for a year in advance. It depends wholly on his receiving invitations to lecture. He may be morally sure that the invitations will come, but it is clear that the offer of a fixed salary in some other calling must often tempt him away from an occupation, the remuneration of which is wholly without guarantee.
108 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE 1
THE THREE SOURCES WHENCE MONEY MAY BE DRAWN,
Modest as may seem the separate needs which we have sketched, when we bear in mind that we are speaking not of a dozen large towns only, but of the many hundreds of smaller towns in England, it will be seen that rn the aggregate the amount needed is large. We must now consider the sources from which the money might come. It might come from private munificence, from the funds of Univer- sities and Colleges, or from the State. In our judg- ment, all these sources should contribute a part. If it is urged that University Extension should be self-supporting, we must reply that, throughout the whole of higher education in England, part- endowment is the rule. No reason has yet been shown why University Extension should be treated as an exception.
i. PRIVATE MUNIFICENCE.
Much has already been done for University Ex- tension by the generosity of individuals. They have helped both the local committees and the cen- tral organizations. Private individuals have con- tributed to the Cambridge permanent fund J.
1 Report of Cambridge University Extension Conference, 1887, p. 85.
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE 1 109
Many others have given considerable sums to the fund for the additional payment of lecturers esta- blished by the Oxford Delegates 1. Scholarships have been presented, and books have been given for the travelling libraries. The London Society has a considerable subscription list, to which, in 1889, four of the City Companies contributed. The Gilchrist Trustees gave j£°2oo to the same Society in iSSg2. The Gilchrist Trustees have recently taken steps aimed at making the lectures, which, as is well known, they annually arrange in a large number of towns, preliminary to University Extension courses. In the future, donors may be forthcoming to endow lectureships for their own counties or neighbourhood, just as professorial chairs have been established in the Universities and Colleges by private munificence. While, how- ever, it is to be hoped that the liberality of indi- viduals will continue to help the movement, it must be admitted that up to the present the source of private generosity has not been sufficient ade- quately to supply its needs.
1 Oxford Report, 1889-90.
2 London Eeport, 1889.
110 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE
2. THE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES.
It has been pointed out on an earlier page l that the Universities already contribute towards the expenses of the work. They provide the general Secretaries, their clerks, and their offices. We have not before us the Cambridge accounts, but from the balance-sheets presented by the Delegates of the University of Oxford since 1886, it appears that the University does not contribute to the pay- ment of the lecturers or to the local expenses of the work.
Some critics in the newspapers have held that the Universities should do more. It has, however, been pointed out that, as institutions, the Univer- sities are poor when the heavy claims on them are considered. In 1887 the Secretary of the Cam- bridge Syndicate pointed out that ' the University of Cambridge is poor in money2.' In the same year, the Vice-Chancellor of the University made a similar statement with regard to Oxford. ' The University/ he remarked, 'is not a rich body in comparison to the demands made upon it V The published accounts of the Universities entirely confirm these statements. The Universities have large incomes, but there are large established calls on those incomes.
1 P. 22.
2 Report of Cambridge Extension Conference', 1887, PP- 7T> 77-
3 Report of Oxford Extension Conference, 1887, p. 28.
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ? Ill
As, however, was pointed out on the same occa- sions, in matters of finance as well as in govern- ment, the Colleges are largely separate from the University. It is not impossible that some of the Colleges might be able to render financial aid to University Extension work.
In discussing this matter, we would again remind the reader that we speak only in our individual capacity as members of the University. We feel, however, that it is better for us frankly to state our own opinion. In our judgment, University Extension work has claims on a larger measure of financial aid from either University funds or collegiate revenues. The University and the Col- leges both gain by the movement. The Colleges have already found in it a means of employment for many of their younger graduates. The Uni- versity, as a whole, derives from it a less obvious but a far more important advantage. The Uni- versity and the Colleges are national institu- tions. On more than one occasion they have been subjected to the investigation of a Parliamentary Commission. In view of any possible legislation in the future, it can be of no small service to them to have drawn to themselves the attachment of classes of great political importance in the country. We can testify from our personal experience to the fact that in several districts a spirit of distrust and even of hostility is giving way to a new sentiment of affectionate regard.
112 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE?
3» THE STATE.
The third source of possible means is to be found in the State. The time is now past when it was necessary to go to the root of matters, and as a preliminary to any application for State aid, to discuss the whole question of the wisdom of State interference.
So far at any rate as education is concerned, the principle has been granted many times over. As Professor Jowett has pointed out, ' very nearly every civilised country in the world, France, Germany, Switzerland and the United States of America, already provides education both primary and secondary, either free of cost, or at a very trifling cost, for all its citizens V It is no leap in the dark which is proposed even as regards our own country. Parliament not only votes three millions a year to the elementary schools, but it assigns annually large sums to higher education. The Science and Art Department receives nearly half-a-million, the Training Colleges for Elementary Teachers more than £100,000, the London Univer- sity nearly £15,000, the Local Colleges of England £15,000 more, and there are grants besides to the Colleges and Universities of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Any further employment of Government resources for purposes of education may be dis-
1 Report of Oxford University Extension Conference, 1887, p. 97,
HAS EXTENSION A FUTUBE ? 113
cussed, therefore, on grounds of justice and ex- pediency rather than principle.
THE JUSTICE OF STATE AID TO UNIVERSITY EDUCATION.
Let us enquire, first, whether the people whom University Extension serves and whom, were the necessary means forthcoming, it would serve to a vastly greater extent than at present, have any claim on the ground of justice to the help of the State. If we examine the institutions which at present participate in the grants for higher educa- tional purposes, we shall find that the London University is a purely examining body, the Training Colleges are open only to candidates for one par- ticular calling, the Science and Art Department teaches only certain subjects, and, to a large ex- tent, it teaches those, either directly or indirectly, for industrial purposes. The local colleges, on the other hand, receive help that they may better ' discharge the duties which the title " University College " implies1 ;' that is, that they may give above all things a higher general education. They discharge these duties to a great extent by holding evening classes. Both as regards the social position of the students, and the nature of instruction given, these evening classes — not to mention many of those held in the daytime — are almost precisely similar in character
1 See Appendix II. I
114 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE?
to those of the University Extension System. As we have seen, the local colleges come from the same general movement which has given birth to the Extension1. The Nottingham College, indeed, grew directly out of the Extension Lectures which pre- ceded it. We have already referred to the fact that not a little of the local college teaching is still done by Extension Lecturers. A number also of the Professors have been trained on the Extension. But the local college is a development of Extension teaching only possible in very large towns. With- out the Treasury grant, it is more than doubtful whether places as large as Sheffield, Nottingham and Bristol could have continued the costly luxury of an independent professoriate. Including the Victoria University and the two great Metropolitan Colleges, there are in all England and Wales only thirteen such institutions, and by the census of 1 88 1 there were 303 towns of more than 10,000 inhabitants. It is impossible for the great majority of even earnest and self-denying students to attend at any college. The great area covered by our chief cities often renders it difficult for those who live no further away than the suburbs, to make use of the city college. The teaching must be taken to the people where the people cannot come to the teaching. The local college is the form taken by the Extension System under peculiarly favourable circumstances. The whole body of taxpayers con- 1 P. 73-
HAS EXTENSION A FUTUKE ? 115
tribute to its maintenance, but only a very small percentage can make any use of it. The remainder of the Extension System works in the face of very great difficulties, but it reaches a greater body of the taxpayers than the fixed colleges. Is not the small town entitled in justice to something in return for its taxation ? There is, too, another view of the subject. The advantages which great towns can secure, the means of instruction and amuse- ment which are the incidental good of their crowded character, are one of the causes which tend to the depopulation of the country districts, and to too great centralisation. Is it not the duty of the Government in the highest interests of the State, in the face of the unwieldy growth of our chief towns, and of all the dangers which that im- plies both to the State and to the race, to do what it can to help the smaller places to compete in attraction with the greater ? University Extension is a University College by co-operation of the smaller towns and of the outlying districts of the larger.
THE EXPEDIENCY or STATE AID.
Let us now turn from the justice of the claim to the consideration of its expediency and of its prac- ticability. There are admitted dangers in the interference of the State in matters of education. There is the danger of centralisation. After a
116 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ?
century of centralisation France is now com- pelled to reverse her University policy. The one State University, managed from Paris, is about to give way to the revived independence of the Local Faculties. That, at any rate, is generally believed to be the meaning of the ministerial statements at the recent celebration at Montpellier. Any scheme for State assistance of University Extension must guard against the danger of centralisation.
Another danger lies in the stereotyping of the present machinery. The Educational problem is always with us. It consists in the adapting of a great system, with many vested interests and deep ruts of routine, to the new wants of the present. Elasticity is one of the prime necessities of any educational system which is not ultimately to do more harm than good. We must preserve to Uni- versity Extension as much as possible of its present admirable elasticity of organization.
We do not ask that the State should take over and maintain wholly any of the schemes for higher education. We must therefore be careful that national assistance is so given that it will not remove the stimulus to local exertion, and will not stop the flow of private munificence.
THE PRACTICABILITY OF STATE AID.
From the point of view of practicability we have two great objections to meet. The first is that the
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ? 117
Extension centres have no permanent organization. They consist of committees and secretaries giving voluntary service, and are at any time liable to perish. They have no endowments, no salaried officers, no buildings, nothing in fact that guarantees continuance, and nobody to be made responsible for the right spending of the national funds. We admit the difficulty. We recognise that any de- tailed scheme must deal with it if it is to have a chance of success. But we point out that it is futile to ask small and often poor places to make a great effort, unless they have some security that the effort, once made, will not be left to die away during years of fruitless agitation. First state the terms on which help will be given, and if they are at all possible you may be sure that the centres will soon comply with them. England was not covered with Science and Art teaching before the Department had stated the terms on which it would recognise it. Extension, on the other hand, does exist. It is maintained from year to year on precarious subscriptions, which are given with the idea that a permanent organization will soon be won. Why wait till the enthusiasm of the subscribers is exhausted? Why not meet them half-way, and encourage them to make still greater efforts ?
The other objection is based on the number and varied character of the centres. The task of equitably dividing a grant among them and of
118 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE 1
exacting the needful securities would be a very difficult one. The administrative and inspecting apparatus would have to be so elaborate, that we should be in danger of incurring the evils of cen- tralisation and loss of elasticity to which reference has already been made. There is much truth in this, but still we feel that, if ingenuity can pos- sibly find a way through them, mere difficulties of administration ought not to be allowed to prevent the application of an admitted principle to practice.
THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE'S WORK.
Such were the arguments advanced in 1889, when the subject was discussed at a Conference of local secretaries and others present at the Oxford Summer Meeting. No one contested the justice of the claim, nor, so far as we can learn, has it been contested since in circles less favourably inclined. There were the dangers of centralisation, of loss of elasticity, of loss of self-help and of pauperisation. There were the difficulties involved in the tentative organization of the centres and in their number and variety. Could the difficulties and dangers be got over ? A small Committee was appointed to make a preliminary investigation. It reported as follows : —
1 Parliament has recently granted a sum of fifteen thousand per annum to the local colleges of England. These colleges are situated in a few of the great centres of population. The result is that
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE? 119
inhabitants of smaller places, while contributing to this sum, receive little advantage from it. The University Extension System is practically the local college of the smaller places. Upwards of thirty thousand students availed themselves of the advantages which it offered during the past year. This result has been attained at an average total cost of about ten shillings per student. The system is approved by the experience of seventeen years. It is capable of great development, and the time has come when it should be placed on a permanent footing.
6 The State is spending upwards of three millions a year on elementary education. Five thousand a year granted to the Extension movement would greatly increase the benefits derived by the nation from that immense outlay. It is proposed that an application should be made to Parliament for some such grant.
' The method employed in the distribution of the money among the centres might be that at present in force in the case of the local colleges. The grant would be entrusted to a central committee ap- pointed by Government, and would be by them distributed amongst the local centres. The amount allotted to each would probably depend on such considerations as the following : — The nature of the population of the district, the amount of local subscriptions, the number of students, and the character and excellence of the work done.'
120 HAS. EXTENSION A FUTURE?
The idea of a system of capitation grants similar to those of the Science and Art Department had been discussed. It was rejected on the grounds that it necessarily involved stringent and detailed state regulations in the matter of subjects, exami- nation and inspection. It implied in short the dangers of centralisation and stereotyping. It will be noticed that the committee finally inclined to a system similar to that at present in force in the case of the local colleges. This report was adopted at a subsequent sitting of the confer- ence. A larger committee was appointed, with power to add to its number, and this is the existing ' National Committee for obtaining a Grant in aid of University Extension.' It is composed of nine representatives from Oxford centres, and seven from Cambridge centres. The joint hon. sees, are Miss Snowden, of Ilkley, Yorkshire, and Mr. H. Macan, of Exeter. The chief work undertaken as yet has been the formation of opinion among those interested in Extension work, and among members of Parliament and others of influential position in politics.
THE TREASURY GRANT SCHEME.
The committee is not yet pledged to any definite scheme, though the plan indicated in the prelimi- nary report has so far seemed the best l. The founding of several new district federations of
1 For details of the plan see Report on pp. 1 18-1 20 and Appendix II.
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ? 121
centres since the report was written, seems to fore- shadow a general grouping of the centres, which would no doubt do much to simplify the distribu- tion of a grant.
THE COUNTY COUNCIL SCHEME.
As a result of Mr. Goschen's statement in the House of Commons, an alternative scheme has suggested itself to the writers, which seems to them to obviate many of the difficulties involved in all the plans as yet put forward. Mr. Goschen pro- poses * to add the amount set free by the abandon- ment of the licensing clauses to the residue which under the Bill as it stands goes to the County Councils, accompanying this inclusion by an in- timation that possibly new charges may by and by be put upon them in reference to intermediate, technical, and agricultural education. It seems desirable, if more is to be done in this respect, that the localities, especially County Councils, should be interested in the work1.' Let us analyse this state- ment and see what it means. A sum of money has been raised by taxation. It is proposed to assign it to the County Councils. It is further proposed to couple it with an intimation that it may have to be applied to education. There is an indication, too, that it is the County Councils who will be asked to take in hand the application of the money to education. We may presume that the Bill which
1 See Appendix I.
122 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE?
it is probably intended to introduce will follow the precedents of the Welsh Intermediate Education Act, 1889. This authorises the Welsh County Councils to spend certain limited sums of money on education which is neither elementary nor tech- nical. What proposal can be simpler, than that in the permissive Act which will probably be passed, the County Councils of England shall be authorised, under the head of Intermediate Education, to assist among other institutions the University Extension Centres of their respective counties'? The great advantages of the proposal are that it minimises both the dangers and the difficulties which attend any scheme for state aid to University Extension. The Universities would not be hampered by depart- mental regulations. They would be free to continue experiments and to strike out new lines in the work. Their healthy rivalry would continue to prompt originality of organization. The County Councils, on the other hand, would be free to discuss the rival schemes and methods, and to adopt which they pleased. There would thus be no danger of monotonous similarity in the work of neighbouring counties. Variety in itself, it must be remembered, is the key to lasting progress ; it is essential also to the supplying of the wants of differing localities.
The difficulties of distribution would be reduced to very small proportions. The Educational Com- mittees of the Councils would know personally the
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ? 123
various centres in their respective counties. They would be in a position to estimate their work, their wants, and their success or failure. Since the Act would contain only permission to make grants, the local leaders of Extension would receive the great stimulus of having both to better their organization, in order to bring effective pressure to bear on the Councils to induce them to apply the Act, and also to improve the teaching for the purpose of con- vincing the Councils that they were worthy of assistance. An incidental effect of County Council management would not improbably be to pro- mote private munificence. In the case of public libraries it not unfrequently happens that a wealthy individual presents the building and the books, provided the town adopts the Act for their maintenance. In the case of "University Extension, such a benefactor might give a small building with class-rooms and offices, on condition that the County granted assistance towards the annual expenses.
THE POSSIBILITIES OP UNIVERSITY EXTENSION.
We believe that the effect of the adoption of our plan would be that in a few years most towns of 5000 inhabitants or more would have a centre of University teaching ; that the larger towns would have small buildings by the side of their public libraries, in which several concurrent courses of teaching on different subjects would be carried on ;
124 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE 5
that the centres of each county would form a feder- ation, and that the representatives of this feder- ation, so far as they were not actually County Councillors themselves, would be consulted by the Educational Committee of the Council. If a local college existed in the county, it would be used by the more advanced students, in subjects especially which require the help of museums and laboratories. The Universities would continue to supply most of the lecturers, they would certify to their compe- tence, and test their work by examination. Every summer large gatherings would spend from one to three months in the chosen seats of learning. They would serve to keep the centres in touch with University life and with the newest ideas on organization. In part they would consist of stu- dents of larger means, in part of the intellectual pick of the working classes, brought together by a system of small scholarships. This ideal may seem ambitious, but on a small scale its elements exist, and it requires but a little to bind them together. The rest would be a matter of rapid and natural growth.
One point by the way. In view of the fact that the counties are likely soon to be units in educa- tional matters, would it not be well henceforth to form County Federations of centres rather than federations, like the existing Northern, South- Eastern, and South-Western Associations, of three or four counties ? Even for the administrative
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ? 125
purpose of organizing circuits for the lecturers we incline to think the present federations too large.
SUMMAEY AND CONCLUSION.
Let us finally summarise the whole case. Tech- nical education is required for trade, higher general education for life. Elementary education has made higher general education possible : it has also made it necessary. It is necessary both for the avoiding of dangers and for the securing of benefits. The dangers are chiefly two. The power of reading gives new opportunities for indulging directly in evil ; it presents also a new temptation to dissipate mental energy. These are the special dangers of a little education. Higher education obviates them by introducing new benefits. It gives intellectual interest to life ; it conduces to sobriety of political judgment; the study of national literature and national history inspires patriotism. In short, by giving contact with the greatest thoughts of the world, such training imparts higher ideals of life, of citizenship, and of religion.
Libraries alone will not do. In themselves they afford no living guide ; alone they present no standard of attainments. Personal teaching must be added. Living mind must touch living mind. And we need for such a work the most highly trained teachers.
126 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ?
The teacher may be stationary or itinerant. The leisured . can come to the teacher, but the teacher must go to the busy. The latter are the vast majority. The Universities can afford great staffs ; a few local colleges can afford adequate equipment, but the great majority of towns must depend on the itinerant teacher. And among such places must be included the outlying or neglected districts even of the large towns which have local colleges.
This body of itinerant teachers already consti- tutes a university by co-operation of towns. Rail- ways and the modern massing of populations make such a system possible.
Such a body of teachers is best selected, trained, and supervised by the Universities. They alone have the endowments necessary to draw to them from all the country the young minds of great ability. They alone have the traditions which inspire to the attainment of the highest culture. They have the historic prestige which marks them out to lead.
This is the system of University Extension. It is a system which already exists. It is a system not of yesterday. Our historical inquiry has shown how natural has been its development, and that it has been tested and improved at every stage by experience. But it is a system which lacks com- pleteness. Its teaching is too intermittent, and is wanting in sequence. It has hitherto failed to retain the permanent services of experienced men.
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ? 127
It has not reached the villages, the smallest towns, or, in adequate numbers, the poorer classes.
Its difficulty is want of money. If the question be asked, ' Why is it not self-supporting?' the reply is that the poor can nowhere support it wholly. In small towns the students of all classes are too few for the purpose. Further, the public impres- sion of the cost of maintaining higher teachers has been largely vitiated by the fact, that most persons engaged in higher teaching are partly paid by en- dowments.
What are the possible sources whence money may be drawn? They are three — private munificence, the Universities, the State. It would be best to draw on all three. We hope for munificence, but as yet it has not been forthcoming on an adequate scale. The public need is urgent and we cannot wait for it. The Universities do something already, but there are heavy and established claims on their re- sources. They may do more, but can never bear the whole expense. We turn, therefore, to the State.
We claim that it is expedient for the whole com- munity that the State should give the aid asked for. It is to the ultimate interest of every member of the community that all the citizens should be intel- ligent. In the competition of nations, England can- not afford to waste talent. Most civilised countries, France, Germany, Switzerland, the United States, largely assist higher education out of govern- ment funds. Moreover, even England is no excep-
128 HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ?
tion to this rule. Our Government already helps higher education. Why should University Exten- sion be left out ?
There are obvious dangers in State-aid. There is the danger of losing elasticity in organization, of stereotyping the methods of teaching, of the in- action which frequently follows on officialism, of pauperisation. A scheme must be devised which avoids these dangers.
There are two ways in which State-aid can be given. It can be given centrally and it can be given locally. If given centrally, University Extension would be placed on the same footing as the local colleges which receive Parliamentary grants. It is entitled to the same treatment as those colleges ; it has the same origin ; it is worked by the same kind of men, and often by the same men ; to a great extent the work of the local college is Extension work ; above all, every taxpayer contributes to the Parliamentary grant, but only the few who live near to the college participate in it.
But State aid can also be given locally. It might be given by the County Councils out of the new funds which it is proposed to hand over to them. On the precedent of the Public Libraries' Act, recognition of University Extension might be left to the discretion of the Councils.
We prefer the second plan. It obviates the worst dangers of centralisation and officialism. It surmounts the practical difficulties of distribution
HAS EXTENSION A FUTURE ? 129
and inspection. It has, moreover, several distinct advantages of its own. The administrators of the fund would have personal knowledge of the centres. The local leaders of University Extension, them- selves often county councillors, would be able in person to urge its claims. But, since the Act would only be permissive, they would have to bestir them- selves to get it adopted. Extension centres would be put on their mettle. Their energy would arouse local interest, and the flow of private munificence might be increased. The scheme, moreover, would leave the Universities free to initiate and to experi- ment, while the local bodies would be as free to adopt whatever plan commended itself to them as the best.
Our proposal seems practicable. The elements of the new machinery already exist. The centres exist ; the Universities have organized the system ; the County Councils are formed; the necessary funds are already forthcoming from the new Spirit Duty ; these funds it is already proposed to assign to the County Councils ; they have even been desig- nated for educational purposes. Nothing is wanting but a clause in an Act of Parliament permitting their partial application to University Extension work.
We ask that, when the educational institutions, to which the County Councils may vote grants in aid, come to be enumerated in an Act of Parlia- ment, a prominent place may be given to University Extension.
APPENDIX.
I. — THE APPLICATION OF THE EXTRA SPIRIT DUTY.
Statement ~by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the House of Commons, July 21, 1890.
Mr. VINCENT asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if Her Majesty's Government had yet determined upon their recommendation as to the application of the extra taxation upon spirits approved by the House in the belief that it would be utilised for the benefit of the contributors.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER: With regard to the question of my hon. and gallant friend, some misappre- hension might be conveyed by the wording of the question. The word * contributor ' itself is one that might be open to controversy, because it is uncertain whether the contributor would be held to be the distiller, the brewer, the retailer, or the consumer. But, passing that point, the extra taxation on spirits and beer was not approved by the House of Com- mons in the belief that the whole of the amount would be utilised for the benefit of the contributors. The proposal before it is that one-third should be so used, namely £440,000 out of £1,304,000. If my hon. and gallant friend's question is intended to suggest that that purpose has failed and that the tax should be repealed, the suggestion would only take us to a repeal of one-third of the tax, namely 2d. on spirits and id. on beer. Such a fractional repeal would, I am given to understand, be unpalatable even to those interested in the tax. It would disturb arrangements, contracts, price lists, &c., without affording any appreciable relief. We therefore discard that solution of the question. Further, we shall abide by the principle of this extra tax, that it shall be devoted to local purposes spread over the whole country. This precludes the adoption of such a suggestion as that contained in the question of the hon. member for Camborne (Mr. Conybeare) to the First Lord of the Treasury, namely that a large portion of the money should be devoted to pur- chasing the Crystal Palace for the people.
APPENDIX. 131
I will now state what we propose as regards England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively. When I speak of Ire- land I am dealing with the first £40,000, and not with the second £40,000 set free by the Exchequer contribution. As regards England, we propose to add the amount set free by the abandonment of the licensing clauses to the residue which, under the bill as it stands, goes to the County Coun- cils, accompanying this inclusion by an intimation that possibly new charges may by-and-by be put upon them in reference to intermediate, technical, and agricultural edu- cation. It seems to be desirable, if more is to be done in this respect, that the localities, especially County Councils, should be interested in the work. In England at the pre- sent moment there is little machinery suitable for carrying on such an object, and it would be impossible to create such a machinery at this period of the session. But in Wales and Monmouthshire the machinery does exist. The County Councils there may supply funds under the Intermediate Education Act of last year out of the county rate, but to the extent of one halfpenny of such rate only. We shall pro- pose that County Councils in Wales should have authority to increase that sum out of the additional funds placed at their disposal. As regards the £50,000 which falls to the share of Scotland, we propose that the amount set fre<e should go to the County Councils. The House will bear in mind that while in England and Ireland much has been done for the ratepayers, so far as Scotland is concerned the ratepayers have scarcely had any advantage whatever out of the revision of local taxation, and it seems but just that their case should also receive some consideration. As regards Ire- land— I am speaking now of this particular £40,000 — we shall propose that the £40,000 which falls to her share shall be utilised for the further promotion of intermediate educa- tion, and for this purpose shall be placed at the disposal of the Intermediate Education Board for Ireland, a body which, I believe, commands the confidence of the Irish public gene- rally, irrespective of political or religious feelings.
Mr. VINCENT asked whether the right hon. gentleman would consider the remission of this extra taxation in his next year's Budget
Mr. BUCHANAN asked whether the same reservation ap- plied to Scotland as to England.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER : No, sir, there is no such reservation.
132 APPENDIX.
Mr. BUCHANAN : Will it simply become a part of the residue under the bill ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER : Yes.
Mr. SEXTON asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to what purposes the Government proposed to appropriate the sum of £40,000 allotted to Ireland as the Exchequer contribution in respect of local taxation licences, and the sum of £40,000, the unallotted portion of the Irish share of the new beer and spirits duties.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said : The £40,000 allotted to Ireland is a set-off against the gain derived by England and Scotland from the excess of the sums received for licences over the grant contributed. We propose a grant to assist the Irish local authorities who have taken or may take action under the Irish Labourers' Dwellings Act, 1882 and 1885.
Mr. A. ACLAND asked whether the English County Councils were to be allowed to use the money for intermediate and technical education, or whether the Government only ex- pressed a pious opinion that some day they might have to do so, and whether, with reference to Wales, the County Coun- cils there were to be directed to help the intermediate education now in existence, or whether they were only to do so if they chose to pass a vote to that effect.
Mr. W. P. SINCLAIR asked, with reference to the Scottish £50,000, would it be competent for County Councils to devote that sum or any part of it for the purpose of education.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER : No, sir, I presume it would not be possible for them to devote any portion of the sum to purposes to which at present by law they could not apply it. I am aware of the desire of a good many Scottish members that this money should be devoted to setting education entirely free. That would have to be done by legislation, and we do not propose to legislate on that matter. With regard to the question of the hon. member for Rotherham (Mr. A. Acland), I have explained that we have no machinery and that it would be impossible at this period of the session to set up machinery for the purpose. The money will be placed at the disposal of the English County Councils, but intimation will be given to them which might guide them so as not to spend it in a manner which would seem to stereotype in any way that payment to them, and it will also be pointed out to them that possibly charges might bo put upon them in the future in regard to inter-
APPENDIX. 133
mediate education. It will be rather a warning to them not to employ the money in a manner which would imply the permanency of the payment.
Mr. A. ACLAND : About Wales ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER: They would not be directed ; they would have authority to do so. I would ask hon. members not to ask further questions until they see our proposals embodied in clauses, as in answering in this way across the table I might be guilty of some slip which might lead to future complications.
Mr. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN intimated that at the proper time he should move that the £50,000 appropriated to Scot- land out of the new customs tax be devoted not to relieving local taxation but to the direct freeing of primary education in Scotland.
II. — TEEMS or TREASURY GRANT TO LOCAL COLLEGES.
Treasury Minute, 1889, staling conditions on which the sum of £15,000 would be distributed among the University Colleges of Great Britain.
My Lords have had under their consideration the report of the Committee appointed to advise the Government with reference to the distribution of the sum of £15,000 which Parliament is to be asked to grant for ' University Colleges in Great Britain/
The Committee state in their report that the sum assigned by them to each college is made up of two items— (a) a fixed sum to each college, together with a grant to the college for each professor or head of a depart- ment, and (6) a percentage on the total amount of local subscriptions and students' fees.
My Lords believe that this system of distribution takes just account of the main factors which should, under existing circumstances, determine the share to be received by each University College out of any sum granted by Par- liament, and is a reasonable application of the general principles laid down in the memorandum of the Lord President and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. They
134 APPENDIX.
accordingly accept the allocation of the grant of £15,000 for the present year as proposed by the Committee, viz. : —
£
Owens College, Manchester 1,800
University College, London ij?oo
King's College, London 1,700
Liverpool University College ,500
Mason College, Birmingham ,400
Yorkshire College, Leeds ,400
Nottingham University College ,400
Bristol University College ,200
Durham College of Science (Newcastle-on-Tyne) . ,200
Firth College, Sheffield ,200
Dundee University College ........ 500
My Lords recognise that the present allocation of the money is more or less experimental, and that experience may show that greater or less weight ought to be attached to one or other of the various items, such as extent of endowment, amount of fees, amount of local" subscriptions, &c., upon a comparison of which in the different colleges the Committee have based their recommendations. In any case the relative claims of the several colleges upon the total grant will vary from time to time, and the allocation of that grant ought therefore to be subject to periodical revision. My Lords1 indeed feel that it would not be de- sirable to alter the amount of the subsidies received by the different colleges with such frequency as to produce con- stant uncertainty in their financial outlook. But neither would it seem wise so to stereotype those subsidies as to remove the incentive which they ought to afford to the spirit of self-help on the part of the colleges and their sup- porters. My Lords are of opinion that adequate regard would be had to both these considerations if the distribution of the grant of £15,000, should Parliament see fit to con- tinue it, were liable to be reviewed every five years.
The above remarks as to periodical revision do not, of course, apply to the University College of Dundee, inas- much as, in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee, my Lords regard the grant to that institution as confined, in any case, to the present year.
My Lords approve of the suggestion of the Committee that 'a person representing the Government should visit each college from time to time, not with a view of examin-
APPENDIX. 135
ing the students, but to inspect the buildings and laboratories and to become personally acquainted with the extent of the different courses of study.' The exact method of carrying out this recommendation is, however, a matter for future discus- sion between the Education Department and the Treasury.
In addition to such periodical inspection, which my Lords believe will be welcomed by the colleges, it would seem reasonable to require that each college, so long as it con- tinues to receive State assistance, should furnish annually to the Education Department a statement showing the result of the last academic year's work, and that such statement should contain, in particular, the number of professors and students and the average number of lectures attended by each student, the state of the college finances, distinguishing under the head of receipts between subscriptions, interest on endowments, fees, and other sources of revenue, together with such other information as might supply a general view of the academic achievements and financial position of the college.
The continued participation of any particular institution in the grant for ' University Colleges in Great Britain,' must, of course, depend upon the evidence forthcoming, in either of the above ways, or otherwise, of its continuing adequately to discharge the duties which the title ' University College ' implies. While my Lords are of opinion that a general review, and, if need be, redistribution of the grant should not be undertaken oftener than once in five years, they are anxious clearly to establish the principle that no college is to be regarded as having a vested right to share, even for a limited number of years, in the sums voted by Parliament. On the contrary, each college should be considered as liable to be excluded at any time from further participation in the grant if it should appear to the Treasury and the Education Department that, owing to inadequacy of educational equip- ment, to a great falling off in the number of its students, or to any other cause, it had ceased to be deserving of support from the National Exchequer. But, of course, any proposed change in the distribution of the grant will not take effect until it has been brought to the notice of Parliament in connection with the estimate.
In conclusion, my Lords desire to express their sense of the services rendered by the Committee, to whom the thanks of Her Majesty's Government are due for their careful in- vestigation of the claims of the several colleges, and for the valuable suggestions contained in their report.
136 ^APPENDIX
III. — ADDKESSES OF T^E CENTRAL AUTHORITIES FOE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION IN ENGLAND.
OXFORD. — The Delegates for Lectures in large towns, Uni- versity Extension Office, Examination Schools, Oxford.
CAMBRIDGE. — The Syndicate for Local Lectures, Syndicate Buildings, Cambridge.
LONDON.— The London Society for the Extension of University Teaching, Charterhouse, London, E.G.
VICTORIA. — The Committee for Local Lectures, Owens College, Manchester.
IV. — THE FEDERATIONS OF UNIVERSITY EXTENSION CENTRES IN ENGLAND.
(a) The South-Eastern Counties Association for the Ex- tension of University Teaching.
Hon. Secretary. — The Rev. H. E. B. ARNOLD, St. Matthew's Vicarage, Oakley Square, London, N.W.
Hon. Assistant Secretary. — A. RAWLINGS, Esq., High Street, Guildford.
(&) The South-Western Counties Association for the Ex- tension of University Teaching.
Hon. Secretaries. —
H. MAC AN, Esq., 29 St. Leonard Road, Exeter. Miss B. VIVIAN, Reskadinnick, Camborne.
(c) The Yorkshire Association for the Extension of Uni- versity Teaching.
General Hon. Secretary. — EDWARD J. WILSON, Esq., 6 Whitefriar Gate, Hull.
Hon. Secretary for Oxford Centres. — Miss SNOW DON,
Riddings Road, Ilkley.
(d) The Northern Association for the Extension of Uni- versity Teaching.
Hon. Secretary. — A, HOWSON, Esq., College of Science, New- castle-on- Tyne.
A Federation of Centres in the Potteries is now in process of formation.
SKETCH-MAPS
SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION OF UNIVERSITY EXTENSION TEACHING IN ENGLAND AND WALES IN THE SESSIONS 1885-86 AND 1889-90. EACH OF THE TOWNS NAMED CONTAINS ONE OR MOEE EXTENSION CENTRES.
1. OXFOKD CENTRES, SESSION 1889-90.
2. CAMBRIDGE CENTRES, SESSION 1889-90.
Otamfcttirge SUnibersitg
THE GROWTH OP ENGLISH INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE
DURING THE EARLY AND MIDDLE AGES. By the Rev. W. CUNNINGHAM, D.D. Demy 8vo. i6s.
LECTURES ON MENTAL FACULTY : being Lectures delivered in the
University of Cambridge during the Lent Term, 1888-89, on the Growth of Mental Faculty and Means of Training it. By FRANCIS WARNER, M.D. Crown 8vo. 4$. 6d.
LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTIC METHOD IN THE SCHOOL. By
S. S. LAURIE, M.A., LL.D. Crown 8vo. 45.
LECTURES ON TEACHING, delivered in the University of Cambridge in the Lent Term, 1880. By J. G. FITCH, M.A., LL.D. Crown 8vo. New Edition. $s.
OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES ON EDUCATIONAL SUBJECTS. By
S. S. LAURIE, M.A., LL.D. Crown 8vo. $s.
PITT PRESS SERIES. VERGIL.— COMPLETE WORKS. With Notes and Introductions, by
A. SlDGWICK, M.A.
Vol. I. TEXT and INTRODUCTION, y. 6d. Vol. II. NOTES. 45. 6d.
" Mr. Sidgwick's Vergil is, we believe, on the whole, the best school edition of the poet."
Guardian.
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY. A SKETCH OF, FROM THALES TO
CICERO. By JOSEPH B. MAYOR, M.A. 3s. 6d.
ARISTOTLE, OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF. Compiled by EDWIN WALLACE, M.A., LL.D. (St. Andrews), late Fellow of Worcester College Oxford. Third Edition, Enlarged. 4.?. 6d.
JOHN AMOS COMENIUS. Bishop of the Moravians. His Life and Educational Works. By S. S. LAURIE, A.M., LL.D. New Edition, revised. 3$. 6d.
THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. By the Rev. EDWARD
THRING, M. A., late Head Master of Uppingham School. New Edition. 4$. 6d.
THREE LECTURES ON THE PRACTICE OF EDUCATION. I. On
Marking, by H. W.EVE, M.A. II. On Stimulus, by A. SIDGWICK, M.A. III. On the Teaching of Latin Verse Composition, by E. A. ABBOTT, D.D. 2$.
ON STIMULUS. A Lecture delivered for the Teachers' Training Syndicate at Cambridge, May, 1882, by A. SIDGWICK, M.A. is.
MODERN LANGUAGES, LECTURES ON THE TEACHING OP,
delivered in the University of Cambridge in the Lent Term, 1887. By C. COLBECK, M.A. 2s.
GENERAL AIMS OF THE TEACHER, AND FORM MANAGEMENT.
Two Lectures delivered in the University of Cambridge in the Lent Term, 1883, by Archdeacon FARRAR, D.D., and R. B. POOLE, B.D. is. 6d.
MORE'S UTOPIA. With Notes by the Rev. J. R. LUMBY, D.D. 3*. 6a.
LONDON : C. J. CLAY AND SONS,
Cambridge University Press Warehouse, Ave Maria Lane. GLASGOW: 263 ARGYLE STREET.
50C to
&s^s^&^^^s
•"ale be/or
YB 0556!
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
56
(Kiarcntion
Boofes,
SHAKESPEARE AS A DRAMATIC ARTIST; a popular Illustration of the Principles of Scientific Criti- cism. By R. G. MOULTON, M.A. Second Edition, Enlarged. Crown 8vo, 6s.
MOULTON. THE ANCIENT CLAS- SICAL DRAMA. A Study in Lite- rary Evolution. Intended for Readers in English and in the Original. By R. G. MOULTON, M.A. Crown 8vo, Ss. 6</.
MILTON. SAMSON AGONISTES.^ Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by J. CHURTON COLLINS, M.A. Extra fcap. 8vo, stiff covers, is.
CLARENDON. C'; I.ACTERSAND EPISODES OF THU GREAT REr BELLION. Selections from Cla'- rendon. Edited by G. BOYLE, M.A., Dean of Salisbury. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 7j. 6d.
DRYDEN. AN ESSAY OF DRA- MATIC POESY. Edited, with Notes, by THOMAS ARNOLD, M.A. Extra fcap. 8vo, 3^. 6d.
ADDISON. SELECTIONS FROM PAPERS IN THE SPECTATOR. With Notes. By T. ARNOLD, M.A. Extra fcap. 8vo, 4^. 6d. In Parchment, 6s.
STEELE. SELECTIONS FRO?, THE TATLER, SPECTATOR, AND ( -j.^- DIAN. Edited by AUSTIN DOT. >N. Extra fcap. 8vo, 55-. In IV.i h- ment, js. 6d.
GRAY. SELECTED POEMS. Edited by EDMUND GOSSE, M.A. Extra fcap. 8vo. In Parchment, ^s.
GOLDSMITH. SELECTED POEMS. Edited with Introduction and Notes, by AUSTIN DOBSON. Extra fcap. 8vo, 3-y. 6d. In Parchment,
JOHNSON. WIT AND WISDOM UP SAMUEL JOHNSON. Edited K G. BIRKVSECK HILL, D. C L. Crown 8vo, ys. 6d.
BURNS. SELECTED POEMS. Edited, with Introduction, Notes, r 1 a Glossary, by J. LOGIE ROLI.UT- SON, M.A. Crown 8vo, 6s.
BYRON. CHILDE HAROLD. With Introduction and Notes, by H. F. TOZER, M.A. Extra fcap. 8vo, $s. 6d. In Parchment, 5*.
SCOTT. M ARM ION. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by T. BAYNE. Extra fcap. 8vo, 3^. 6d.
PALGRAVE. THE TREASURY OF SACRED SONG. With Notes Ex- planatory and Biographical. By F. T. PALGRAVE, M.A. Half vellum, gilt top, ios.6d.
©jforfc
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS LONDON: HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AMEN CORNER, E.G.