College, Southampton; University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, Cardiff; university of King's College, Windsor, Nova Scotia; university of Queen's College, Kingston, Ontario.
The changes introduced by the legislation of 1877 have been gradually carried out as the occurrence of vacancies in the colleges has made possible the appropriation of portions of their revenue for the foundation of professorships and other university purposes, though in some cases the intentions of the commissioners have been frustrated by the effects of agricultural depression upon college revenues. The general effect of the revolution has been a marked diminution in the clerical character of the college teaching bodies, the conversion of the college Further changes at Oxford and Cambridge. teaching staff from a temporary employment for bachelors awaiting livings or other preferment into a permanent profession, and the growth of a resident and working university professoriate. At the same time a change of almost equal significance has taken place in the teaching system of the university through the gradual growth of “inter-collegiate lectures.” At Oxford nearly all honour lectures given by college tutors and lecturers have been thrown open to all members of the university: the college tutor is now recognized by the university as a teacher in the faculty to which he belongs, and the institution of boards of faculties has done something to bring the organization of the university into harmony with that of universities outside the British Isles.[1] At Cambridge the system of inter-collegiate lectures has also developed itself, but to a considerably smaller extent. At both the old English universities the great widening of the courses of study open to senior students (honour men), which began about the middle of the 19th century, has been continued, while there has been some widening and modernizing of the studies by which a pass or “poll” degree can be obtained. At Oxford there are now the following “Final Honour Schools”: Litterae Humaniores (Classics, Ancient History and Philosophy), Mathematics, Natural Science, Iurisprudence, Modern History, Theology, Oriental Languages, English Literature; and at Cambridge there are the following “Triposes”: Mathematics, Classics, Moral Sciences, Natural Sciences, Theology, Law, History, Oriental Languages, Medieval and Modern Languages, Mechanical Sciences (Engineering). Degrees in letters and science have also been instituted at both Oxford and Cambridge. The doctorate is given for original work. At Oxford the B.Litt. and B.Sc. can be taken by dissertation or original research, without passing the examination for B.A. At Cambridge the B.A. can be obtained in a similar manner by advanced students.
The strenuous efforts of both universities fully to meet the constantly increasing requirements of scientific education have necessitated appeals for public aid which have met with much generous response. Among the latest instances is that of the late Sir W. G. Pearce, who appointed to Trinity College, Cambridge, a certain trust fund over which he had a general power of appointment, and also bequeathed to the society the residue of a considerable estate.
So long ago as the year 1640 an endeavour had been made to bring about the foundation of a northern university for the Durham. benefit of the counties remote from Oxford and Cambridge. Manchester and York both petitioned to be made the seat of the new centre. Cromwell, however, rejected both petitions, and decided in favour of Durham. Here he founded the university of Durham (1657), endowing it with the sequestered revenues of the dean and chapter of the cathedral, and entitling the society “The Mentor or Provost, Fellows and Scholars of the College of Durham, of the foundation of Oliver, &c.” This scheme was cancelled at the Restoration, and not revived until the present century; but on the 4th July 1832 a bill for the foundation of a university at Durham received the royal assent, the dean and chapter being thereby empowered to appropriate an estate at South Shields for the establishment and maintenance of a university for the advancement of learning. The foundation was to be directly connected with the cathedral church, the bishop of the diocese being appointed visitor, and the dean and chapter governors; while the direct control was vested in a warden, a senate and a convocation. A college, modelled on the plan of those at the older universities, and designated University College, Durham, was founded in 1837, Bishop Hatfield's Hall in 1846, and Bishop Cosin's Hall (which no longer exists) in 1851. The university includes all the faculties, and in 1865 there was added to the faculty of arts a school of physical science, including pure and applied mathematics, chemistry, geology, mining, engineering, &c. In 1871 the corporation of the university, in conjunction with some of the leading landed proprietors in the adjacent counties, gave further extension to this design by the foundation of a college of physical science at Newcastle-upon-Tyne (subsequently designated Armstrong College), designed to teach scientific principles in their application to engineering, mining, manufactures and agriculture. Students who had passed the required examinations were made admissible as associates in physical science of the university. There is also at Newcastle the College of Medicine which stands in similar relations to Durham, of which university Codrington College, Barbados, and Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, are likewise affiliated colleges.
The university of London had its origin in a movement initiated in the year 1825 by Thomas Campbell, the poet, in University of London. conjunction with Henry (afterwards Lord) Brougham, Mr (afterwards Sir) Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, Joseph Hume and some influential Dissenters, most of them connected with the congregation of Dr Cox of Hackney. The scheme was originally suggested by the fact that Dissenters were practically excluded from the older universities; but the conception, as it took shape, was distinctly non-theological. The first council, appointed December 1825, comprised names representative of nearly all the religious denominations, including (besides those above mentioned) Zachary Macaulay, George Grote, James Mill, William Tooke, Lord Dudley and Ward, Dr Olinthus Gregory, Lord Lansdowne, Lord John Russell and the duke of Norfolk. On 11th February 1826 the deed of settlement was drawn up; and in the course of the year seven acres, constituting the site of University College, were purchased, the foundation stone of the new buildings being laid by the duke of Sussex, 30th April 1827. The course of instruction was designed to include “languages, mathematics, physics, the mental and the moral sciences, together with the laws of England, history and political economy, and the various branches of knowledge which are the objects of medical education.” In October 1828 the college was opened as the university of London. But in the meantime a certain section of the supporters of the movement, while satisfied as to the essential soundness of the primary design as a development of national education, entertained considerable scruples as to the propriety of altogether dissociating such an institution from the national church. This feeling found expression in the foundation and
- ↑ The proposed reforms initiated by Lord Curzon as chancellor of Oxford University, though largely administrative, may be mentioned here. In 1909 he issued his “Principles and Methods of University Reform.” Committees of Council were formed to prepare definite schemes in the various directions indicated, and in 1910 a volume on the subject was issued to the members of Congregation. It was proposed, inter alia, to make Greek an optional subject in Responsions, thus foreshadowing changes in Moderations and final schools. Responsions itself was to be replaced by an entrance examination, though it has long practically served as such. The creation of “a diploma specially suitable for candidates contemplating a commercial career” was recommended. Additional provision to assist poor students, including the resignation of their emoluments by non-necessitous students in favour of exhibition funds for necessitous students in the colleges, and changes in the system of college fellowships, with especial reference to the encouragement of research in combination with tutorial work, were also indicated. Among purely administrative reforms, besides certain changes in the rules governing eligibility to the Hebdomadal Council and Congregation, it was proposed to reconstitute the method of election to and membership of the boards of faculties, at the same time creating a general board of the faculties, to control the individual boards, and to “relieve the Hebdomadal Council of the greater part of the business connected with curricula and examinations.” A finance board was proposed to review the accounts of the university, all university institutions and colleges, and to act in an advisory and supervisory capacity.—[Ed.]
