Abstract
A FEW weeks ago (June 17, p. 477) reference was made in these columns to the financial position of the Universities and institutions of University rank, and a plea was put forward for more adequate Government financial support. We are not unmindful that the Government has already recognised that it has responsibilities in this respect, but we greatly doubt whether it has fully realised their extent. The majority of these institutions are of comparatively recent foundation, and from the first have led a precarious existence; restricted resources and even poverty have almost uniformly been their lot. Nevertheless, they have ministered to the needs of higher education in a truly remarkable way; they have helped this country to hold its own in the face of world competition, and materially contributed to its success in the Great War. This being so, one would think that the encouragement and development of higher education would be among the first and primary cares of the Government. While we believe that this really is the intention, yet, if we may judge from certain proposals recently made, the Government does not fully appreciate the present state of affairs in the Universities. Apart from the question of new and additional accommodation due to the great influx of students, and altogether apart from the necessities of internal development which are yearly becoming more and more insistent, there stand out the dominant facts that the great body of University teachers are quite inadequately remunerated, and that there are no really practicable sources which can be tapped to provide proper and adequate emoluments for them. It is within our knowledge that the present economic position is pressing most severely upon a large number of University teachers, and that the financial position of many Universities is precarious.
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University Grants. Nature 105, 701–702 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/105701a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/105701a0