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Salient. An organ of student opinion at Victoria University, Wellington. Vol. 23, No. 9. Wednesday, November 9, 1960

University Bursaries - A New Deal For Students?

page 4

University Bursaries - A New Deal For Students?

The recommendations of the Committee on New Zealand Universities (the Parry Committee) concerning university bursaries and scholarships have been the subject of intense activity over several months by the New Zealand University Students' Association (NZUSA). This article summarizes NZUSA's position and details the recent negotiations.

The Parry Report has been welcomed throughout the community as heralding a new era in the development of university education in New Zealand. That the Committee members had a deep and full understanding of the rightful place of the university in a developing nation like New Zealand, is evident to all who have read the Report and studied its conclusions. However, in assessing the Committee's recommendations on bursaries, your Association has major reservations.

Two fundamental arguments were promoted in the report as the bases of many recommendations. The first is that a far greater supply of graduates is essential to meet the nation's present and future demands: the second that there is an urgent need to encourage full-time study to produce those graduates as quickly and economically as possible. Proceeding from these arguments, the report recommended increased staff salaries; better facilities in the form of more laboratories, halls of residence, libraries and student union buildings, etc., and increased bursaries. With all the general principles and most of the specific recommendations NZUSA is in full agreement, but on examination it can be seen that two of the bursary recommendations strike deeply at the roots of many later recommendations, and a third strikes at a large number of New Zealand students who at present are unable to do much about the circumstances under which they study at our universities.

The three recommendations referred to are these:—

(a)That the value of the Higher School Certificate award be increased from £40 per annum to £50 p.a. for full time study.
(b)That a special Masters bursary of £125 p.a. for full time study be introduced but restricted to those students who achieve a second -class standard or better in the final year of the course in their major subject for a Bachelors degree in arts, science, or commerce, or in the final year of their course for a Bachelors degree in other faculties;
(c)That the present assistance with fees to part-time students be abolished.

Before discussing in detail the reasons for our disagreement with these three points, I should reiterate that the Association is fully satisfied with the other bursary recommendations. In a thoroughly documented submission presented to the Parry Committee, NZUSA sought first a review of the whole bursary system, and secondly an increase in the value of all bursaries to a more adequate level. Apparently impressed with the case advanced by the Association the following submissions were adopted with little or no variation:—

(1)Bonded bursaries, which have completely destroyed the whole merit basis of the scholarship system, should be abolished;
(2)Students with University Entrance should become eligible for the full Higher School Certficate bursary on passing three units for the B.A. or B.Sc. degree in one year;
(3)The boarding allowance to full-time students living away from home and holding the Higher School Certificate qualificatin should be greatly increased to meet rising living costs;
(4)The number and value of University Junior and National Scholarships should be increased to meet present-day requirements;
(5)Machinery for a periodical review of bursaries should be instituted, such a review to be carried out in consultation with NZUSA and other interested parties.

The University Grants Committee has since adopted all these recommendations and, where appropriate, they are now in the hands of the Minister of Education for implementation.

To revert to the three points where the Association disagrees with the Parry Committee:—

The Higher School Certificate

The fundamental contention of the Association is that ability and not financial circumstances should be the criterion for determining whether or not a student may obtain a university education.

Bursaries should, therefore, be sufficiently high to enable a student to afford a university education after making allowance for reasonable effort on his own behalf in holiday employment and a reasonable level of parental support.

In preparing its submissions, the Association undertook a comprehensive and detailed budgetary study of the income and expenditure of the average student and included in the tables contributions from his own efforts and from his parents. On the basis of this study the Association sought an increase in the Higher School Certificate award from the present £40 p.a. to £75 p.a. The Committee has recommended £50 p.a.

The Association considers that our recommendation is the very minimum which can be considered adequate and fair under present-day conditions. Unless this figure is accepted, the proud statement of New Zealanders that equal educational opportunity exists for all will be worthless. With a bursary of only £50, the opportunity to study at university will become increasingly limited to those who have substantial parental support or other income.

Throughout the Parry Report, emphasis has been placed on the need for more graduates, and for full time study, yet surely the only way to encourage students to attend full time is by providing an adequate bursary. The principle of adequate bursary assistance has been established in this country for many years. It lies in serious danger of being undermined. Acceptance of the Parry Committee's recommendations by the Government (who pays) will result in a decreased full-time student population and waste. The Government can erect the finest buildings in the world and staff them with the most brilliant and best paid teachers, but, if students are not able to attend university full time, with adequate financial assistance to safeguard them from the necessity of choosing between part-time employment or reduced living standards with the accompanying high possibility of subsequent physical and mental illness, I suggest that we will be taking a long step backwards.

Student leaders at Parliament Building after seeing the Minister of Education.

Student leaders at Parliament Building after seeing the Minister of Education.

The Masters Bursary

In the Association's submissions to the Parry Committee, we pointed out that at present approximately only one in four students who complete their Bachelor degree study for Masters qualifications. The reasons are straightforward. Graduates can earn higher income in outside employment; in their final years at University expenses are higher than earlier, and the present fourth year Higher School Certificate award of £40 is inadequate encouragement.

NZUSA submitted, therefore, that a special bursary award should be established to encourage study at the Masters level and that this should be £125 p.a. plus fees for all students accepted for the Masters degree course.

The Parry Committee has accepted the validity and strength of the argument but would restrict the award to those students who obtain a second-class standard or better in the final year of the Bachelor course.

The Association adheres firmly to its original submission. Again, one of the major arguments of the Parry Report—the need for more graduates—will, to a large extent, be defeated by this recommendation. The proposed restriction will discriminate unfairly on those students, and there are many, who under the different circumstances of Masters study can gain second class honours without having reached that standard in their final Bachelor units. Furthermore, a most unjustifiable anomaly will result when, as is very possible, students who do obtain the required standard fail to obtain honours. We remain convinced that the only fair basis is to award the Masters bursary to all students accepted for Masters degree study.

A further cause for alarm is the implication of another recommendation of the Parry Committee whereby the Higher School Certificate award will be restricted in future to the Bachelor course only. If by any unfortunate mistake the Masters bursary is to be restricted in any way, then the Higher School Certificate award must be extended to those students undertaking Masters degree study who do not obtain the Masters bursary.

Part-Time Bursary

The Association strongly disagrees with the Committee's recommendation that the part-time bursary be abolished. The overall contention of the Parry Committee that full-time study should be encouraged (although, as has been pointed out their bursary recommendations do not take this contention to its logical conclusion) is supported by NZUSA. However, many students in New Zealand who study part-time do so not from choice but because they can not afford to attend with the present low bursary assistance or because the demands of professional training and the university curriculum force them into full-time employment.

We are satisified that if the Higher School Certificate bursary was raised to the adequate level recommended by the Association the number of those in the first category will be reduced. Nevertheless many other part-time students will still be unable to break away from the restrictions at present imposed on them by their professional organisations.

NZUSA considers that these students must not be penalised for circumstances beyond their control.

Recent Negotiations

The Report of the Parry Committee was published in December, 1959, and closely studied by all student association executives before coming up for discussion at the 1960 Easter Council meeting of NZUSA. That meeting decided that, in accordance with the pre-page 5vious practice of the Association when making representations on bursaries, an approach should be made to the Minister of Education.

The writer and Messrs. Galvin (Past President) and Pickering (Vice-President and Chairman of the Association's Education Committee) accordingly met Mr Skoglund to acquaint him with NZUSA's views on bursaries as outlined above. The Minister gave the delegation a good hearing but stated that as the New Zealand University Grants Committee was considering all other aspects of the Parry Report he would like the Association to make its detailed submissions to that body. A further submission was, therefore, prepared and forwarded to Sir George Currie, Chairman of the Grants Committee. The day prior to the August Council meeting of NZUSA. I was informed by the Secretary of the Grants Committee that they had not accepted our recommendations on the three major issues but had endorsed those of the Parry Committee.

We had sought an opportunity to meet the Grants Committee so that its members might obtain a full appreciation of our position and views. As this request was not accepted, we are completely unable to understand why our submissions have been rejected. To this day the detailed figures in our submissions remain unchallenged and on them the Association's case rests.

After the Association's August Council meeting had considered a report from the Executive, it resolved that the six constituent Presidents, together with the writer, would form a delegation to meet the Minister of Education once more. This meeting took place in Wellington on August 30.

The Minister gave the delegation a most sympathetic hearing and appeared impressed by the strength and validity of the arguments put before him. Mr Skoglund, naturally, was not prepared to make an immediate decision and the whole matter now rests in his hands. NZUSA asked the Minister if a decision can be made in time for the new bursaries to be implemented in 1961. Mr Skoglund has replied that every effort will be made to meet our request.

This article was headed "University Bursaries—A New Deal for Students?" The answer will be in the affirmative only if the Association's full recommendations are met. The result of much painstaking research, the submissions presented by NZUSA were based on a comprehensive assessment of the minimum needs of students. The opportunity now lies to the present Minister of Education and the Government to place before the nation a positive programme for the development of the Universities and our University education system, and in this way make a valuable contribution to the economic development of New Zealand. In this context the following statement from the Report of Committee III of the Industrial Development Conference is highly significant:

"The Government should increase scholarships and bursaries in value and number to allow full-time study. Any cost would be more than offset by the greater contribution to productivity of more graduates of better quality."

Will the Government accept the challenge?