The Adult Education Committee expressed the view that the Tutorial Class Committees ought not to be mere Sub-Committees of the Delegacy or Syndicate responsible for Extension Lectures, or for Extension Lectures and Tutorial Classes together, and ought to receive funds direct from the University, and not through the mediation of the Delegacy or Syndicate. They accordingly recommended the creation at each University of a Department of Extra-Mural Adult Education, to be responsible for the whole field of non-vocational extra-mural education, and to consist of two Committees which should administer Extension Lectures and Tutorial Classes respectively and should meet together in joint session, under one academic head, for general purposes. They also recommended that the Extension Committee should be strengthened by the representation on it of the different types of non-academic interests, as is already the case with the Tutorial Classes Committee. We agree with these recommendations, which have recently been adopted, in general, by the Council at Cambridge, and which are, we understand, in accordance with responsible opinion at Oxford. We accordingly propose that a new Board should be created for extra-mural purposes generally at both Universities, and should resolve itself into two Committees of equal status, one dealing with Extension Lectures and activities. immediately arising out of them, and the other dealing similarly with Tutorial Classes consisting of approved courses of not less than three years' duration aiming at the standard of a University Honours course within the limitations of the subject studied. The new Board should, we think, consist of an equal number of (a) members (including the Proctors at Oxford, if desired) appointed by Congregation or the House of Residents from its own body, or by other bodies which may be authorised by the University to make the appointment, and (b) other members appointed by the same body on the nomination of the organisations which provide the basis of local work and which are approved from time to time for the purpose by the University. The Vice-Chancellor should be an ex-officio member of the Board. It is desirable in our opinion that the Board should meet, as a whole, at least once in each of the three normal terms. 153. General. If a substantial increase of funds is provided in accordance with our recommendations in paragraph 151 above, and if the new view of extra-mural work which we have suggested in paragraph 148 is adopted by teachers generally throughout both Universities, we are confident that both branches of the work will enter upon a period of increased vitality and success. The comparatively limited sphere of the existing extramural activities of the Universities has been due mainly to want of funds. If the work is generally accepted as an established and essential branch of normal University work, and if funds are provided for organising a proper staff for the purpose without 37458 E overtaxing the strength of those who are also responsible for intra-mural instruction, we are confident that the University Authorities will repeat in the extra-mural sphere the success which they have already achieved inside their own borders. The working-out of arrangements may be left with confidence in the hands of the Universities and the Extra-Mural Boards, and we content ourselves with making the following suggestions on points of detail :— (i) It will be necessary to provide an increased number of teachers, with high qualifications, adequate pay and assured prospects. Some of them should in our opinion be engaged for wholetime extra-mural work throughout the year, or at any rate from September to April each year; others for partly extra-mural and partly intra-mural work. We attach great importance to the establishment of an order of whole-time extra-mural teachers. for whom Tutorial work will be the primary duty and interest, and who will devote the whole or the greater part of each year to work in their district or districts, teaching three or more classes each week during the annual session. Such an arrangement will in effect enlarge the geographical influence of the Universities, and bring them into closer touch with important areas than is possible when the class tutor is teaching at Oxford or Cambridge for part of the week and does not reside in an industrial district. The whole-time teachers will be able to reside in or near their districts, and can do invaluable work there, both as tutors and as educational pioneers. But it is desirable that they should have recourse to the University for a short period or periods in each academic year. They would normally be borne solely on the establishment of the Extra-Mural Board, unless special arrangements are made by Colleges in particular cases. As we point out under the head of adult students in paragraph 182 below, it is desirable that the teachers should include a number of men and women who have themselves received preparatory training in a Tutorial Class, and have subsequently been brought up to the University as adults for a resident course. (ii) All the teachers should be given the benefit of the University pension scheme recommended in paragraph 221 below; such contributions as would, under the terms of that scheme, be payable by the University should be provided out of the grant of £6,000 a year recommended for each of the Extra-Mural Boards. (iii) We recommend the establishment of a Centre or House for extra-mural students, in as central a position as possible, at both Universities, consisting of the necessary administrative offices and of accommodation for the existing libraries, and for students wishing to read or write there. We think no provision need be made for sleeping accommodation or meals. (iv) The special measures recommended in paragraphs 180 to 182 below for bringing adult students up to the Universities will enable extra-mural students of exceptional ability to secure a University education at Oxford or Cambridge as resident full-time undergraduates. But as it will be impossible to provide such facilities for the majority of extra-mural students, we think it is most desirable that their needs should be met by developing the existing Summer Meetings and Summer Schools and expanding them into a comprehensive and efficient system of Vacation Schools. We are confident that Colleges will provide facilities for such Schools to the utmost extent of their power. (v) In the past, Colleges have given assistance to extra-mural work by voting grants of money for it, by awarding Exhibitions to students who have shown their ability in extra-mural classes, by recognising as part of the duties of a Fellow the extra-mural work done by Fellows engaged partly on College and partly on extramural work, and in some cases by appointing to College Fellowships teachers who have specialised in extra-mural teaching. We hope that the necessary assistance which has been given in these ways will be continued on a greater scale in future, and we look forward to a system under which an increasing number of teachers at both Universities will interest themselves personally in this branch of work and will take part in extra-mural teaching so far as their other duties may permit. We believe that University teachers gain experience which is of distinct value for intra-mural purposes by teaching in other surroundings and by coming into contact with various types of students who live under different industrial and social conditions. III.-ACCESSIBILITY OF THE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES TO POOR STUDENTS. 154. One very important question which arises in connection with the applications of Oxford and Cambridge Universities for a grant from public funds is the question how far those institutions are accessible to poor students, and what measures, if any, are required to make them still more accessible in future than they have been in the past. We have referred in the first portion of our report (see paragraphs 8 and 18 (vii)) to the position of poor students in past times at Oxford and Cambridge, and have described how in mediæval times there was a flow to both Universities of boys or young men from all classes, destined for the Church, and how, when that flow diminished, many poor students were still brought up to the University with the assistance either of "close" Scholarships attached to particular Grammar Schools or of cheap maintenance as "inferior Battelers," Servitors, or Sizars, with menial duties attached. There were obvious objections to the latter system, and public opinion had already insisted on its amendment before the appointment of the Royal Commissions of 1852. Some close Scholarships, on the other hand, have continued to the present day, but many of them were converted into "open" Scholarships as a result of the Commissions of 1852. Incidentally the effect of this change was to reduce substantially for a time the assistance available for poor bovs from the smaller 37458 66 E 2 Grammar Schools, as they had previously been able to obtain their share of the "close" Scholarships attached to their particular school but, until recent years, were usually unable to hold their own in competitions for open Scholarships with boys from the expensive "Public Schools." Nevertheless, on the whole, the changes made between 1852 and 1882 were most beneficial, as the total number of Scholarships available at Oxford and Cambridge was increased by the partial transfer of College money from Fellowships to Scholarships, and in course of time a growing number of poor boys obtained open Scholarships, on their intellectual merits, at the leading Public Schools, and thereafter at the University; in addition, the abolition of "close" Fellowships gave all undergraduates an equal chance of competing for Fellowships, from whatever school they might have passed to the University. 155. The number of poor men in residence at both Universities increased materially during the last half of the nineteenth century. This increase has been very rapid in recent years owing to the improvement of local schools with the assistance of grants from Local Education Authorities, and to the consequent success of boys from those schools in competing for open Scholarships at the Universities. Many poor boys so successful have been granted additional assistance by Education Authorities or Colleges, or from charitable funds, to enable them to meet the cost of residence at the University. Table G.5, in Appendix 3, gives some particulars of the assistance given in such cases by Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. We have received returns with regard to the extent to which boys from the less expensive schools passed to the two Universities in the two years before the War. These returns show that out of a total number of 892 Scholarships and Exhibitions awarded at Oxford and Cambridge in those two years together to boys from schools in the United Kingdom, no fewer than 425, or nearly 50 per cent., were won by boys from the cheaper boarding schools (with fees not exceeding £80 a year) or from day schools with fees exceeding £10* a year but providing education, nevertheless, at a very moderate cost, while 157, or not far short of 20 per cent., were won by boys from the cheapest day schools with either no fees at all or fees not exceeding £10* a year. In addition, 606 boys from the former list of schools and 237 from the latter list went up to Oxford and Cambridge in the same years as Commoners. No doubt all the boys from the former list were not poor in the strict sense of the word; but nearly all of them were probably the sons of parents whose means were at any rate moderate, and a considerable proportion must have come from poor or fairly poor homes. Practically all the boys on the latter list must have been sons of poor parents. Moreover, in considering these figures, it must be remembered that they relate to Oxford and Cambridge. only, and that a very much larger number of boys must have passed during the same years to other Universities. * *Pre-war fees The accessibility of the Universities generally to poor students will be still further improved by the new system of State Scholarships which was introduced in 1920. Under this system, boys and girls in full-time attendance at a grant-aided Secondary School can compete, if under 18 years of age on the 31st July preceding the examination, for a number of State Scholarships (at present fixed at 180) tenable normally for three years in respect of a course, in any University institution, leading up to a degree in Honours. The successful competitors may, if they choose, and if they pass the normal College and University requirements, reside at Oxford or Cambridge for the three years referred to. A declaration by the Headmaster or Headmistress is required in each case certifying that the candidate is qualified by character, conduct and general attainments to receive State assistance to enable him or her to proceed to the University. The Scholarships carry with them financial assistance, if necessary, consisting of (a) a grant in aid of the approved fees, and (b) a grant not exceeding £80 per annum in aid of the maintenance of the Scholar while at the University. Such assistance is only given if the Board of Education is satisfied that it is needed; parents applying for it are required to sign a statutory declaration of their total annual resources and the extent to which they need help. These Scholarships will provide automatically for an expansion in the number of poor boys and girls passing from Secondary Schools to the Universities generally, and many of the successful candidates will no doubt elect to reside at Oxford and Cambridge. 156. Although, however, there has been so much improvement in recent years in the facilities provided for the passage of poor students from school to the University, much still remains to be accomplished. We have explained in Part A of our report what are in our opinion the special advantages to be obtained by students at Oxford and Cambridge. If the nation is to derive the maximum value from those Universities, the ideal to be aimed at must be to secure the opportunity of an Oxford or Cambridge education for the greatest possible number of students, from all sources, who are fully qualified intellectually to benefit by it. The existing system of College Scholarships already provides, we believe, for all students of really first class abilitywhatever the financial position of their parents may be-who succeed in entering the Secondary Schools of the country and in due course present themselves as candidates for Scholarships at Oxford or Cambridge; but the number of College Scholarships, and of the State and Local Scholarships which now supplement them, is strictly limited, and outside the field of successful Scholarship candidates it still remains true that, owing to the cost of University education, a large number of able boys and girls who desire to go to a University, and are fully qualified to benefit by the education there provided, are debarred by want of means from going to any University, and a fortiori, owing to the higher 37458 E3 |