Abstract
CAMBRIDGE.—A memorial is being circulated for the signature of members of the Senate, asking the Council of the Senate to sanction the formation of a Syndicate to consider on what conditions and with what restrictions, if any, women should be admitted to degrees in the University. It states that “for nearly fifteen years, since February 1881, the University has formally admitted the students of Girton and Newnham to its Honour examinations, and has practically co-operated in their instruction by permitting them to attend the lectures of its teaching staff, and to share the advantages of the University Library and other institutions. At the present time, eight out of the ten universities of Great Britain—viz., the University of London, the Victoria University, the new University of Wales, the four Scottish Universities, and the University of Durham—admit women to degrees. The result is that the women to whom Cambridge now awards only certificates, feel the inferiority of their position in this respect as compared with that of women who pass the examinations of these other Universities. Further, a committee of the Council of the University of Oxford was appointed some months ago to consider the desirability of granting degrees to the women students at Oxford, whose position is now somewhat similar to that of the students of Girton and Newnham. There seems, in short, to be a danger lest Cambridge—which twenty years ago was acting as pioneer in the movement for extending the advantages of academic education to women—should be actually the last to grant them the traditional and customary recognition of their work. The conditions under which degrees should be granted require very careful consideration. It is hoped that the syndicate of which we desire the appointment may be able to frame proposals which will command the assent of all who are interested in the academic education of women.”
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University and Educational Intelligence. Nature 53, 261–262 (1896). https://doi.org/10.1038/053261a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/053261a0