THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN AT ST. ANDREWS.
[To THE Enrroa OF THE " $PECTATOR...3 &a,—The higher education of women has now assumed an importance in the public mind which would have appeared almost incredible ten years ago. It is no longer necessary to vindicate for women a right to a share in that higher instruction which had been so long, save in a few cases, the exclusive privi- lege of men. Events march swiftly nowadays. The question, at present is, not whether women shall have what they desire in that direction, but what facilities can be most promptly and freely afforded them for the attainment of their object. The two great English Universities, without admitting them as students, have organised a system of examinations for the higher education of women, and grant certificates to those who pass a successful examination in certain subjects. Very recently, a vote of the Oxford Convocation has opened up the University examinations for the B.A. degree to female candidates, who may thus measure their proficiency in certain departments with that of their fellow com- petitors of the male sex. In Scotland, the University of St. Andrews, the oldest of the five Universities in the northern part of the island, has thrown itself into this move- ment with the greatest alacrity ; and as it was precluded by the -existing state of the law from matriculating women as regular students in the various faculties (a step which, it is understood, was viewed most favourably by the majority of the professors), it did the next best thing in its power. It instituted a course -of study for women of a most comprehensive kind, including upwards of twenty different subjects, and conferred University -certificates on those candidates who gave satisfactory evidence -of their proficiency in a certain number of these. It adopted two grades of certificate,—one for pass, the other for honours ; the standard aimed at, and rigorously adhered to, being that of the Master of Arts degree. The title given to this University cer- tificate is that of LL.A.,—i.e., Literate in Arts. The success which has attended this attempt to meet a felt want has been most remarkable. Under the efficient management of the -energetic convener of the scheme, the present Professor of Moral Philosophy, the numbers who have presented themselves year by year for examination, and the proportion of candidates who have obtained certificates, have exceeded the most Sanguine 'expectations of its promoters. From the year 1877, when the scheme first came into operation, up to the present year, more than nine hundred candidates have entered for examination. Out of these, over three hundred have obtained the LL.A.. title, and more than twice that number have passed in one or more subjects, with a view to their ultimately attaining the said diploma. These facts speak for themselves. They show that a strong desire possessed the public mind that women should have access to the higher culture, and that the scheme goes fax to provide that access. No doubt women are at present de- barred by law from entering themselves as regular students in -the Scottish Universities, and obtaining those advantages which belong to residence and systematic professional instruction ; but this exclusion cannot last long. The long-expected Univer- sities Commission, the Bill for the appointment of which has just been introduced into the House of Commons, will doubtless remove, if the powers of the Commissioners allow them, or they at least will recommend Parliament to remove, the restric- tions which at present exist in the way of women sharing in all academic advantages. In the meantime, women are no great losers. The present curriculum for the M.A. degree in the Scottish Universities is much too narrow in its range of subjects to meet the full requirements of higher female instruction. And although a choice of subjects for graduation is one of the improvements to be expected from the coming Commission, -there are still many branches of study, such as those of Modern Languages, Comparative Philology, Ancient and Modern History, &c., which are not provided for in the University curriculum, but which are essential to the higher education of women—especially of those who look forward to the work of teaching, either in ladies' schools of a high class, or as governesses in private families. All the above subjects are included in the curriculum for the St. Andrews LL.A. certi- ficate; and the examiners in these, as well as in the other subjects, are Professors in the University. What St. Andrews has done in that respect could be done by other Universities ; and we do not despair of seeing ere long free provision made for teaching these and other as important studies in the Scottish
Universities. This is an age of scholarships and bursaries, and we cannot doubt that if the attention of wealthy individuals were only directed to the necessity of endowments for such objects, fends would speedily be forthcoming.
There are, no doubt, practical difficulties in the way of con- ducting the education of young men and women in the game University; but these could surely be overcome without much difficulty by suitable arrangements. But if the practical diffi. culties should be found insuperable, there remains the alterna- tive of a University solely for women, in which the professor- ships need not be confined to members of the female sex, but might include male teachers as learned and able as any of those who hold office in existing institutions. In the mean- time, it is well that there should be one University granting what is practically the same as an arts degree to women, in which there is this generous flexibility in the choice of subjects, and at the same time a rigorous maintenance of the academia standard in each of them.
A noteworthy feature of the St. Andrews Examination Scheme is that it allows the candidate (who may be unable to avail herself of academic instruction, even if that were open to her, through being occupied with the professional labours of teaching) to select a single subject, and to come up for examina- tion in that alone ; the certificate, if obtained, counting so much towards the full LL.A. title, which may not be taken until some years of examination are passed. It thus wisely avoids any excessive strain, and adapts itself to the varying needs and individual tastes of the candidates. The "Correspondence Classes," also, which have been opened in Edinburgh and else-
where for the purpose of guiding and assisting the studies of
intending candidates, are a peculiar and important feature of the present educational movement. By means of these " classes " any young woman living in the remotest part of the country may obtain all necessary advice and instruction in the particular department in which she intends to enter herself for examina- tion. The University programme itself enumerates the best books for study under the various heads ; while the examination papers of past years form a clear and definite guide to the amount and quality of the knowledge that is expected from every candidate for this University certificate.—I am, Sir, Sic., 0.
[We do not know why our correspondent mentions the very half-and-half admission of women to the degree examinations but not to the degrees of Oxford and Cambridge, and omits to mention the frank and complete admission of women to the degrees of the London University, which, we undertake to say, mean as much, if not more, than the Oxford and Cambridge degrees.—En. Spectator.]
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