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61. It has already been mentioned that the number of students at the University Schools of Engineering is considerably above the pre-war figures. Some of these students are receiving assistance from the Rehabilitation Department. This form of assistance will disappear when the returned servicemen at present studying complete their courses. When the influx of returned servicemen is spent, there will be no hope of maintaining numbers without increasing the number of bursaries of one sort or another and also their value. The increase may have to be more than proportionate to the increased output required because the additional numbers may have to be found very largely from those unable to afford a full-time university education. It will be necessary, too, to provide bursaries for at least one year for selected diploma students during the one year of full time study which forms part of the course proposed for them. This and related topics are dealt with in Section 13. 62. Most of the special problems of the University schools of engineering on which evidence was heard are considered, as mentioned earlier, in Section 10. One related topic on which the New Zealand Institution of Engineers and the Engineers Registration Board gave evidence was the desirability of setting up a Council of Engineering Education to co-ordinate the policy for professional engineering education. This question has been considered separately in Section 14. 63. In the preliminary discussions during which the scope of the principal inquiry was defined, the Committee found that there was a considerable body of men holding positions intermediate between those of tradesmen and those of professional engineers. Generally speaking, these people consist of two main classes —firstly, those with little or no academic qualifications, who by virtue of ability and long experience have achieved positions of considerable responsibility; and, secondly, those who have set out to obtain a professional qualification but who have not succeeded in completing this qualification. There is also a third, and smaller, group with expert qualifications in a field which is considered too limited. It was at first considered that the Committee should take steps to provide some form of certificate for these men, but after taking evidence from some groups it became clear that the solution to the problems of these people would have taken a disproportionate amount of the Committee's time to the detriment of the principal subject of the inquiry. This question is touched upon in Section 15. 64. It appeared to the Committee that the main questions on which it was asked to deliberate could best be considered by dealing with the education and training of professional engineers as a whole. It is true that references in the report and the recommendations made by the Committee are mainly about the civil, electrical, and mechanical branches of engineering. These branches are, however, the oldest established and they employ the great majority of professional engineers. The general conclusions drawn would apply equally to the newer branches of engineering, the initial training for which depends basically on that given in one or other of the three main branches. Recommendations are made about other branches where action is considered necessary. 65. Section 16, which gives the specific findings of the Committee, sets out the answers to the questions raised in the order of reference. The recommendations made throughout the report are summarized for convenience in Part 111. 8. SUPPLY AND DEMAND 66. It was clear to the Committee at a very early stage in its deliberations that no firm conclusions could be reached about some aspects of training until it knew for certain whether the present supply of engineers was equal to the demand and what the relation between supply and demand would be in, say, five years' time. The Committee felt that no reliable estimate of requirements could be obtained for any longer period ahead.
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