VII CONCLUDING RECOMMENDATIONS
70. In conclusion, we desire to make the following recommendations on two special points which have been brought to our attention.
71. The chief of these is the question of training in what may be conveniently called Management Studies. We have been impressed by the statement made by several of our witnesses, that the highly trained technician is often ignorant of the principles of industrial organisation and management and that he often shows no inclination to accept administrative responsibility. Admittedly there is much in this field that can be learnt only from experience; but there is a body of knowledge awareness of which may greatly facilitate the process of learning. This body of knowledge should be made available both at the undergraduate and at the post-graduate stage.
72. At the undergraduate stage we do not suggest any elaborate study of such subjects as scientific management, industrial psychology, costing systems, methods of wage payments; but we are convinced that ignorance of the
[page 23]
main findings of these studies is a real handicap to men who would otherwise be highly qualified for administrative work. The practical difficulties are real, and we fully recognise them. The body of knowledge which we have in mind can be taught only by those who have a thorough practical and theoretical grasp of it; and the present literature of the subject in this country is generally of a poor quality, lacking the intellectual content of a sound mental discipline. But these difficulties cannot justify the almost complete avoidance, in the academic courses of technicians, of subjects the ignorance of which is a severe handicap to them in later business life. It is an extravagant waste of talent to forgo this large potential source of able administrators.
73. Our first recommendation, therefore, is that all students of technology, whether at Universities or Colleges of Technology, should be introduced to these subjects during the final year or two years of their undergraduate course. Probably no more than an introduction can be fitted into the curriculum at this stage; but the experience of Universities where such introductory courses have already been provided, indicates that they are of very real value. We hope, also, that such courses will be supplemented by instruction given to undergraduates in industry itself during their periods of vacation works training.
74. This, however, will not be enough, and our second recommendation is that at least one institution should be selected as a centre for post-graduate study of industrial administration. It should be the function of this centre to set standards in the teaching of the subject, to systematise it as a mental discipline, to conduct the necessary research, to develop the literature of the subject, and to train teachers of it.
75. In using the word "post-graduate" for the work to be done by this centre, we do not mean to imply that its students will necessarily be recruited direct from men who have just graduated. On the contrary, as indicated in paragraph 11, we expect that its students will often, if not usually, be graduates who have had a substantial period of industrial experience. This, however, will depend on arrangements with industry which will have to be worked out as the centre develops.
76. We add a third recommendation. Management studies should form a part of the courses, not only of Universities and Colleges of Technology, but also of all Technical Colleges teaching for the National Certificates and Diplomas; and they should also form the subject of short or refresher courses organised jointly by teaching institutions and industry. A number of such courses are now being occasionally held, but their provision should be systematised, and we hope that special attention will be devoted to this subject by the Academic Board of Technology in each region.
77. The other matter to which we desire to draw attention is the special needs of teachers of technological subjects in Universities and Technical Colleges. Such teachers are faced with the special problem of keeping up to date in the industrial technique of their particular subject. The only really satisfactory way of doing this is for the teacher to return to industry for substantial periods. While this is possible under present conditions of teaching service, it is not easy; and the extent to which the practice is followed is slight.
78. This is a matter which might well be dealt with by the Regional Academic Boards in collaboration with the industries in the region. The National Council of Technology could carry the matter a stage farther by an arrangement of exchanges with teaching institutions abroad. The possibility of teachers. obtaining experience in industry abroad should also be considered. All such exchanges are of the utmost value in keeping the teacher fresh and up to date in his subject.
[page 24]
79. Something might also be done for teachers in the way of refresher courses of an academic character. The rate of advancement of knowledge in all branches of science and technology tends to increase; in most institutions teaching programmes are very heavy, and teachers have the greatest difficulty in keeping up to date in the most recent developments of their particular subjects. Universities and Colleges of Technology could be of great assistance to technical teachers in this respect by arranging for refresher courses.
80. One final point is that industry should be prepared to release senior members of staff to give advanced courses of lectures during the day. Some technological subjects are best taught by practising specialists and only by the release of such persons can the most efficient instruction be obtained. The practice is not uncommon on the Continent and we urge that industry should follow this example in spite of the inconveniences which may be involved. We would urge, also, the extension of a practice, already tried, of holding summer schools in industrial works.
81. We are greatly indebted to our Secretary, Mr. A. R. M. Maxwell-Hyslop, for the efficiency with which he has discharged his duties under the heavy pressure of other work; and we should like to record our warm thanks both to him and to our Assistant Secretary, Mr. F. J. Edkins, who has ably seconded him during the greater part of our deliberations.
(Signed)
EUSTACE PERCY (Chairman).
D.S. ANDERSON.
W.L. BRAGG.
W.H.S. CHANCE.
C.G. DARWIN.
E.V. EVANS.
B. MOUAT JONES.
S.C. LAWS.
H. LOWERY.
H.S. MAGNAY.
GEORGE H. NELSON.
J.F. REES.
R.V. SOUTHWELL.
FITZHERBERT WRIGHT.
July 19th, 1945.
A.R. MAXWELL-HYSLOP (Secretary).
F.J. EDKINS (Assistant Secretary).
[page 25]
NOTE BY THE CHAIRMAN ON SECTION VI
1. The Committee, unanimous in all its other recommendations, has been unable to reach agreement on one relatively minor point: the nature of the qualifications to be conferred on "graduating" students of the new Colleges of Technology. This disagreement is important only because, if our other recommendations are accepted, the issue we have left unsettled will be inherited by the proposed National Council of Technology as a troublesome legacy which will disturb their deliberations and delay the energetic action expected from them and from the Regional Advisory Councils and Academic Boards. The issue must, therefore, be settled by a Government decision.
I feel that neither of the conflicting proposals which are set out in Section VI of our Report will offer Government a sufficient basis for such a decision and that it therefore becomes the duty of the Chairman to give the Minister such independent advice as he can.
2. To begin with, I wish to put our disagreement in its proper perspective. It is not a disagreement between the University members of the Committee and other members; it is not a conflict of "interests"; and I hope that the discussion of this point by the public will be equally impartial. The truth is, I think, that the problem of qualifications is insoluble within the limits we have set ourselves in our Report; and, in so far as I have advised my colleagues so to limit themselves, I am responsible for their failure to find an agreed solution. Our Report, as a whole, is an attempt to cure immediate evils and secure immediate action. Our aim has been to lay the foundations for a single national policy of technological education within which Universities, Technical Colleges and the local authorities responsible for technical education may begin at once to work together. We have deliberately refrained from trying to predict the ultimate development of this co-operation, lest such speculations should arouse controversy and delay action. But the issue what qualifications are to be conferred on students of the new Colleges of Technology really raises the larger issue, what is to be the ultimate future of these Colleges. Since that issue has been thus raised, it must be faced and clarified.
3. If higher technological education is to be developed on the scale and with the intensity which we have been convinced are necessary to the well-being of the nation, it is natural to propose that such higher studies, wherever pursued, should lead to a Bachelor's degree. For, obviously, the aim of such a policy must be to ensure that such studies will be pursued only in institutions fully competent to conduct them. But experience shows that such competence, expressed in terms of the power to confer degrees, can be attained only by a deliberate effort with a definite aim.
4. In all civilised countries the power to confer degrees is the distinguishing mark of a University. In this country the power can be exercised only if it is granted by an act of Government, and Government has jealously restricted such grants. Government policy has been based on the principle that a University should be a fully self-governing community of teachers and students, working together in one place, with substantial endowments of its own, mature enough to set its own standards of teaching and strong enough to resist outside pressures, public or private, political or economic.
5. The consistency of this policy has been emphasised, rather than modified, by the single exception made to it in the grant to the University of London of external degree-giving powers, an early experiment in the extension of University education beyond the limits of Oxford and Cambridge, which
[page 26]
Government was careful not to repeat when creating a new University system for the English provinces and for Wales. All experience tends to show that Governments cannot safely entrust any large degree of independent control over educational standards at the University level to a body which is not self-controlled by the direct teaching responsibilities of its members towards the students whose courses they regulate.
6. A Government can have only one University policy at a time. The policy thus consistently followed in the United Kingdom has been inherited by the Dominions and has earned for British University degrees the high reputation which they enjoy both in British territory and abroad. The reputation of United Kingdom degrees would not long survive the suspicion that future grants of University powers in this country were to be governed by a dual standard - one for University Colleges which have to serve a long apprenticeship until they attain the requisite degree of maturity and independence, and another for municipal Colleges which do not claim maturity and do not even aspire to independence.
7. There is no escape from this issue in a proposal to grant University powers, not to the Colleges individually nor to an external examining body, but collectively to a "moderating" body, mainly representative of the Colleges. If the intention is to develop the Colleges into University institutions, there need, perhaps, be no great objection to temporary arrangements, however anomalous, designed to alleviate the hardships of their apprenticeship, as the hardships of University Colleges are alleviated by the anomaly of the external degrees of the University of London. If, on the other hand, it is intended that they shall remain municipal Colleges, with only such autonomy as is compatible with financial control by the representatives of the ratepayers, the privilege of thus exercising collectively University powers which cannot be entrusted to them individually could not be confined to them alone. The same privilege would have to be offered at least to University Colleges and to such institutions as the Royal Colleges of Art and Music and the Architectural Association; and I do not see how it could be logically withheld from institutions of "Further Education" generally. Indeed, the triads of Technical College, College of Art and College of Commerce maintained by some of the larger municipalities might claim to be specially entitled to such a privilege - and the Scottish Central Institutions would have an even stronger claim.
8. This issue is difficult enough, without being complicated by further refinements. I do not share the view of those who feel it necessary to emphasise the essential differences between courses at Universities and Colleges of Technology, or who object to the grant of University powers to "single-faculty" institutions. University institutions primarily devoted to technological studies should, indeed, provide for their students a wide range of such studies and should also provide teaching in the pure sciences and in such "arts" subjects as history, English, modern languages and economics; but it does not follow that they need be qualified to grant a B.A. or a B.Sc. degree. The degree of B.Tech. seems to me to be perfectly appropriate to Colleges of Technology which are otherwise qualified for the grant of University powers. The real question is: whether it is to be the policy of Government that they should become so qualified.
9. I have myself no doubt how this question should be answered. Not every College of Technology will be able to aspire to University status; but it should be the policy of Government to treat them as a group and to develop from among them some major University institutions. Some, situated in University cities, may become the Faculties of Technology of the neighbouring University - a relationship which (save in exceptional cases) might be unhealthy
[page 27]
for both parties if artificially created now, but would be perfectly appropriate when a new College has worked out its standards of technological education, and can therefore enter into equal partnership with a University on the basis of a mutual acceptance of each other's teaching. Others, geographically too remote from the nearest University to make a real union possible, may qualify for independent University powers. Others, again, may content themselves with a status similar to that of the Royal College of Art, whose A.R.C.A. has a commanding reputation in its own field. Subject to the unanimous recommendations of the Committee in paragraph 30 of our Report, this policy need not involve any brusque disturbance of the existing relations between any of the Colleges and their providing local authorities; and I think it important to avoid the disturbance which would result from a premature adoption of the B.Tech. If I may venture a suggestion which involves the Royal permission, I should prefer that, on the analogy of the institutions derived from the Exhibition of 1851, all the Colleges should be given the title of the "Royal Colleges of Technology" and that, for the present, each should be given power, subject to the moderation of the Academic Board of the National Council of Technology, to confer, at the graduating stage, an Associateship of the Royal Colleges of Technology and, at the post-graduate stage, a Fellowship.
10. I believe that the declaration of such a policy would do more than any premature imitation of University degrees to concentrate the attention of those responsible for the management and the technical efficiency of industry on a new experiment in education designed to meet their needs; I believe that the advice which they can give to their apprentices will be more influential than parental preferences in directing a satisfactory flow of students into the Colleges of Technology; and I believe that no policy would be more likely to enlist both their active co-operation and their financial generosity, than one deliberately aimed at the progressive development of a future system of fully self-governing University Institutes of Technology.
E. P.
[page 28]
APPENDIX
UNIVERSITIES, UNIVERSITY COLLEGES, AND ASSOCIATED COLLEGES PROVIDING UNIVERSITY DEGREE COURSES IN ENGINEERING
Universities of:
Birmingham.
Bristol.
Cambridge.
Durham:
King's College, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Sunderland Technical College.
Leeds.
Liverpool.
London:
King's College.
Queen Mary College.
University College.
Imperial College of Science and Technology.
Battersea Polytechnic.
Northampton Polytechnic. I Woolwich Polytechnic.
West Ham Municipal College.
Manchester with the Manchester College of Technology.
Oxford.
Sheffield.
University of Wales:
Cardiff University College.
Swansea University College.
Bangor University College.
University College of Nottingham.
University College of Southampton.
[page 29]
INDEX OF PARAGRAPH CONTENTS
SECTION I INTRODUCTION
Paragraphs 1-6.
Paragraph
1. Opening Statement. Need for a standing organisation.
2. General evidence of deficiencies in technological education.
3. Need for comprehensive plan of recruitment and training.
4. Individual and joint responsibilities of Universities and Technical Colleges.
5-6. Need for simpler and more systematic contacts between industry and education.
SECTION II THE REQUIREMENTS OF INDUSTRY
Paragraphs 7-21
7-11. Broad classification of technically trained staff required in Engineering industry and of responsibilities of Universities and Technical Colleges.
12. Estimated annual output of Engineers within the scope of the Report required during next decade. Existing provision for Engineering education.
13-16. Enumeration of Engineering degree courses in Universities and Technical Colleges.
17. Summary of pre-war output of Engineers.
18. Summary of war-time (1943) output of Engineers.
19-21. Estimate of required output for the next decade.
SECTION III COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY
Paragraphs 22-32
22. Industrial requirements not fully met by existing courses.
23-24. Distinction in principle and practice between University and Technical College education.
25. Criticism of the application of this distinction to Technical College courses. Excessive reliance on evening work.
26-27. Need for new courses at the higher level in Technical Colleges, involving substantial periods of continuous study. Estimated number of students for whom the courses should be provided.
28-29. Organisation of the new courses and selection of the institutions providing them.
30. Constitution of the new Colleges of Technology.
31. Needs of London, and of technologies other than engineering, for regional and national organisation.
32. Such an organisation should cover the whole field of Technical College education and should recognise the importance of the work of the other Colleges.
[page 30]
SECTION IV REGIONAL AND CENTRAL ORGANISATION
Paragraphs 33-40
33. Regional Advisory Councils. Particular importance of University representation and consultation at the academic level.
34. Regional Academic Boards of Technology.
35. National Council of Technology.
36. Suggestions for the constitution of Regional Academic Boards.
37. Suggestions for eight Regions.
38. Especial importance of Regional organisation for Greater London.
39. Consultation with Scotland.
40. Responsibility of Academic Boards for better recruitment and training.
SECTION V RECRUITMENT OF STUDENTS AND MEANS OF ACCESS TO UNIVERSITIES AND TECHNICAL COLLEGES
Paragraphs 41-51
41-42. Previous deficiencies in recruitment and training.
43. Need for co-operative effort to attract students by schools, Universities, Government agencies and industry.
44. State Bursaries and Scholarships.
45. Recruitment of students from industry into full-time education. Access to Universities from Technical Colleges.
46. Access at the matriculation stage.
47-48. Access at the "intermediate" stage.
49. Mutual access between Universities and Technical Colleges at the post-graduate stage.
50. Remarks on research.
51. The problem of highly specialised technologies.
SECTION VI QUALIFICATIONS TO BE A WARDED BY COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY
Paragraphs 52-69
52-55. Agreed principles as to nature and method of award, and maintenance of standards. Responsibilities of the National Council of Technology.
56. Title of qualification. Division of opinion.
57-61. Arguments in favour of a Bachelor's Degree.
62-65. Arguments in favour of a State Diploma.
66-67. Agreement on the need for a higher research qualification analogous to the Ph.D.
68. Certificate for post-graduate study, not connoting individual research.
[page 31]
SECTION VII CONCLUDING RECOMMENDATIONS
Paragraphs 70-80
70-75. Need for training in Industrial Management.
76-80. Need for special arrangements with industry to enable teachers of technology to keep their knowledge up to date.
NOTE BY THE CHAIRMAN ON SECTION VI