Abstract
THE progress of technical education during the last few years in this country has been watched with great interest by some of our more important colonies which are desirous of not lagging too far behind the mother country in their arrangements for giving special instruction to artisans in subjects allied to the industries in which they are engaged. The Report of the Minister of Public Instruction of New South Wales recently issued contains some interesting particulars as to the establishment of a Technical College in Sydney and the organisation of trade classes in the colony. The present Technical College of Sydney, like many similar institutions in this country, has grown up out of the Sydney School of Arts. From 1873 to 1877 plans for the extension of the school were carefully considered, and in 1878 Colonial Parliament granted 2000l towards the inauguration of a Technical College. In 1883 the Government decided to establish a State system of technical education in New South Wales, and having carefully examined the scheme of the City and Guilds of London Institute, and compared it with what was being done on the continent of Europe, they decided that the course of study and system of instruction to be adopted in their college should “accord with the practice of the City and Guilds of London Institute, with such modifications as seemed necessary to meet local requirements and appliances.” “Following out the principle laid down by the City of London Guilds for their own guidance, the Board of Technical Education resolved that the object of technical instruction in the colony would be to improve the industrial knowledge workmen by teaching the sciences and principles underlying their handicraft, and that such teaching should illustrated by the best apparatus and machines that can be obtained, and by visits to workshops, manufactories, &c., No sounder views than these could be expressed. In 1884 the Parliamentary vote for technical education had increased to 17,093l. 3s. 4d., and more than forty classes were in operation at the College. These figures indicate the great advance that has been made. As now organised, the College contains thirteen departments, viz., Agriculture, Applied Mechanics, Art, Architecture, Geology, Chemistry, Commercial Economy, Mathematics, Music, Elocution, Pharmacy, Physics, and Domestic Economy. Some of these subjects are outside the curriculum of our own Technical Colleges; but there much to be said in favour of the introduction of some non-scientific subjects into a technical course; and where statesmanship is almost a profession the study of elocution in early youth is of distinct advantage. The average number of students in the College during the past session has been 917, and the fees paid by the students amounted to 1838l.
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Technical Education in new South Wales . Nature 33, 462–463 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/033462b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/033462b0