The Various Bodies

I shall attempt to cover and explain shortly the activities of the various bodies within the University before going on to give you a detailed description of Just what happens to the fees that we collect from degree and University Entrance examinations.

To begin with, there is the powerful body, the Senate, in which rests the authority given to us under the University of New Zealand Act. Theoretically it is the governing body of a unitary University which consists of four Constituent Colleges and two associated Agricultural Colleges. Actually the kind of single complete University which was, as I understand it, intended by the Commission of 1926 in their Report has never really functioned, nor have those who have had the control of matters in the Colleges and in the Senate apparently wished it to function. It is in fact a mixture of federal and unitary' in its functioning. The colleges are the real universities in a Teaching sense. The Senate is composed of a majority of persons who are concerned directly with the University Colleges so that whatever policy the Senate develops must be considered to be what the Colleges want. The Senate mots once or twice a year in different University centres and it has an Executive which meets monthly in Wellington to conduct any business between meetings of the main body.

The Academic Board, composed of Professors from the Colleges and the Academic Heads of the Colleges, is responsible for academic policy throughout the system and in the main the recommendations of the Academic Board are accepted by the Senate. The Academic Board receives recommendations which come up through the Professorial Boards of the Colleges so that in the end the academic policy is Intended to be representative of the best thinking of academic men throughout the system. Critics of the Board would claim that it has to and the lowest common denominator amongst the proposals sent up by the Colleges and so becomes, they think, a brake on certain kinds of educational experimentation.

The Entrance Board, compose of Professors from the Colleges, members of the Education Department, and representatives of independent schools, sets standards for admission to the University. These standards. I think you will agree, are best to be equal throughout the Dominion, just as Great Britain has found that the General Certificate of Education applied on a nation-wide scale is most acceptable as a basis for entrance to all the universities there. Some extreme separatists suggest that each College should set its own [unclear: entrarrce] standard, but so far as one can see, a general standard throughout is preferable.

The Grants Committee, composed of persons selected by the Senate for their wide general interest in and knowledge of University affairs, along with the Heads of the Colleges, is charged with the responsibility of advising the Government on the financial needs of the University as a whole. That means all of the Constituent Colleges, the Agricultural Colleges and the Special Schools such as Medicine, Engineering. Dentistry. Architecture. Home Science and so tions to the Government about the forth. In addition, the Grants Committee considers and makes representations to the Government about the building needs of the Colleges.

In addition to the statutory committees there is a multitude of Scholarship Committees Research Fund Committees, ad [unclear: hv] committees concerning Special Schools and other matters which deal [unclear: parately] with University problems throughout the year.