E.—l

26

HIGHER (UNIVERSITY) EDUCATION. The number of students on the books of the four University colleges affiliated to the University of New Zealand increased from 4,442 in 1925 to 4,653 in 1926. The figures for each of the four colleges were as under : — 1925. 1926. Auckland .. .. .. .. .. .. 1,182 1,270 Victoria .. .. .. .. .. 1,002 930 Canterbury .. .. .. .. .. .. 1,099 1,229 Otago ..' .. .. .. .. .. .. 1,159 1,224 4,442 4,653 The total number of students described as taking definite courses at the affiliated colleges was 3,501, distributed as follows : Arts, 1,587 ; science, 314 ; medicine, 229 ; dentistry, 116 ; law, 492 ; commerce, 350 ; music, 13 ; engineering, 202 ; agriculture, 18 ; home science, 106 ; architecture, 31 ; journalism, 17 ; and mining, 26. The number of exempted students was 493 in 1925 and 566 in 1926, the numbers in actual attendance at lectures being 3,949 and 4,087 respectively. The following shows the growth in the numbers of students over a period of years : 1878, 168 ; 1895, 742 ; 1900, 805 ; 1905,g1, 158 ; 1915, 2,039 ; 1920, 3,822 ; 1924, 4,236 ; 1925, 4,442 ; 1926, 4,653. Of the 4,653 students on the books in 1926, 3,318 students or 71 per cent, of the total number of students were men. Of the students attending lectures last year the following were receiving free University education : 38 per cent, in the case of men, and 54 per cent, in the case of women, or 43 per cent, of all students. Nearly all these had their tuition fees paid by the State. Returns showing the occupations of students have been furnished with respect to last year by Otago University and the three University Colleges. Expressed as percentages the figures are as under : — Men. Women. Full-time students .. .. .. .. .. 30 40 Teachers and training-college students .. .. .. 25 46 Government and local-body employees .. .. .. 12 2 Employees of private firms .. .. .. .. 32 4 Not known .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 8 100 100 The number of full-time students as a percentage of the total number of students attending lectures was 56 in the case of Otago, 17 in the case of Auckland, 23 in the case of Victoria, and 30 in the case of Canterbury. The number of candidates for examinations conducted by the University of New Zealand again shows a marked increase over the previous year's figures. For the Matriculation Examination there were 5,592 candidates, and of these 1,381 passed, and 824 who already held partial passes completed the examination. There were 6,593 entries for the various degree examinations, compared with 5,972 in 1925. GENERAL. Annual Examinations. The annual examinations conducted by the Department are as follows: (1) An examination to determine the grant of Junior Scholarships and junior free places, held in November ; (2) a main series of Public Service Entrance, Senior National Scholarship, senior free place purposes ; (3) an August series for teachers' certificates of Classes D and C and Handicraft, and incidentally to some extent of Class B. The examinations were held at seventy-one centres in 1926. The total number of entries for all examinations was 11,839, of which number 10,461 candidates actually