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

The Masters Bursary

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.