Abstract
AT the recent annual meeting of the Court of Governors of the University of Birmingham, the vice-chancellor, Sir Charles Grant Robertson, noted a small decline in the number of students in the University, possibly due to the decline in the birthrate (though periods of ‘boom’ in trade have on previous occasions been associated with a slackening in the entry to the University). The Faculty of Medicine, however, shows no such falling off. He commented with satisfaction on the success of the Appointments Board and the evidence of an increasing demand for the product of the University in industry—in fact, during the past year the demand on the Appointments Board exceeded the supply. Sir Charles dealt with the lack of the study of the social sciences in English universities. It has been suggested that the education of a university graduate is incomplete without some such study, but there is the difficulty of finding the time without omitting some other part of the curriculum. It appears probable that little can be done unless there is a specialist social science degree course, or the subject is made one for a post-graduate course of at least one year; and then there is the problem of finding posts for such graduates, with adequate pay and prospects of promotion, so long as the wide field of municipal civil service is barred to university graduates. Sir Charles expressed sympathy with the Government's desire to promote physical training in universities, but, in addition to the fact that the necessary trainers do not at present exist, the thorny problem of compulsion or non-compulsion would have to be solved.
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New University Studies. Nature 139, 499 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139499b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139499b0