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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 14, No. 10. August 9, 1951
In New Zealand
In New Zealand
The United States, in contrast, had courses in business administration (some merely secretarial courses, but the better ones aiming at providing a training for professional leadership).
How could these developments be applied in New Zealand? What should be the relationship between the university and industry, and what should industry do to help the university, whose task was wider than the mere service of industry?
The unit of industry in New Zealand was far smaller, and often it was necessary for the manager to be a jack-of-all-trades with down to earth practical experience in his own industry. These smaller firms could not afford to employ technical research staff, much less personnel officers and other specialists. By the establishment of co-operative research associations such as have been working in England for many years, New Zealand industrialists could help to overcome their handicap of small size. But these associations should not be dominated by day-to-day service and solving of current problems of members. A proportion of time must be spent on fundamental research with only a long range application to industry.
Staff and human relations were of greatest importance, and Dr. Hulme suggested that there was a place in New Zealand for the industrial consultant, with room for a good deal of research as well.
Dr. Hulme defined the basic job of the university as one of education—in the broadest sense of the word—of its students. "Can a man who wishes to go into industry or commerce get any real and lasting benefit from a university education, or is it largely a waste of his time? Certainly we can train school teachers, engineers, medicals, etc., but I think it is a crucial test of the value of university education that a man who has taken a degree should be able to do his job better whatever that Job is. The speaker felt that too many sought merely a rubber stamp "B.A." or "B.S.c" through acquiring a number of facts for use in examinations, and missed the important things the university could give: "a training in concentration, in thoroughness, unswerving loyalty to facts however unpleasant, and an ability to think straight and impartially as is humanly possible."
| (A) | "Other things being equal, preference is given to the honours man, but main considerations are the individual qualities of drive, personality, integrity and leadership." |
| (B) | "A little more importance is attached to an honours than a pass degree, but the main thing is individual quality rather than academic distinction." |
| (C) | "The university graduate may have read any subject, this part of his education being regarded as the medium through which the mind is broadened, the man at the same time acquiring new knowledge and experience in thinking for himself. It is sometimes found that a first-class degree has been obtained at the expense of . . . other university activities, and one with a less good degree may possess a greater measure of personality, etc., which will be valuable in industry." |