Universities in the.Making The University College of the South West
at -Exeter, where a new. hall of residence has -just been opened, is oneof -several great institutions in this country which justifiably cherish the ambition of becoming Universities. The process of evolution by which provincial centres of education, starting often from small 'beginnings under the impulse of the University Extension Movement, and building themselves up by patient work till they had qualified for the full- status of Universities,- has been one of the most -significant developments of this century. Thus Birmingham attained its Charter in 1900, Liverpool in 1903, Leeds in 1904, Sheffield in 1905, -Bristol in 1909, and Reading in 1926. The ambition. to-become a Uni- versity has on the whole acted as a healthy educational stimulus. - Those' concerned are generally wise enough to realize that though the erection of halls and -hostels is a valuable outward sign of prosperity, the attainment of the highest academic 'standards of studies and teaching is the first -essential. University status should not be prematurely conferred.- Neither, when the right conditions exist, should it be denied: Autonomy in the direction of studies adds-to the strength and character-of a sufficiently equipped centre of learning. • •
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