Scotland in the nineteenth century

5. Education

Section 5.9: Universities

[page 96]

"appointed to consider the Petition of the Lord Provost, Magistrates and Council of the City of Edinburgh, Patrons of the College or University founded in the said City by King James the Sixth, and of the Senatus Academicus of the said College or University; and who were empowered to report their observations thereupon to the House."

It was claimed that the buildings of Edinburgh University were no longer adequate to cope with the increased number of students, who were "attracted thither by the celebrity of its professors, and particularly by the high estimation in which the School of Medicine is held over all Europe". The Magistrates of Edinburgh had managed to raise £30,000 by voluntary subscriptions but this was insufficient to complete the buildings. The Committee recommended that a grant should be made by parliament.

The subcommittee examined St. Andrews College, the manner of election to offices, the university building, the university accounts, the awarding of degrees and the university library. The university buildings were found to have been repaired and enlarged in 1760 and in need of further restoration while St. Marys College on being examined was not considered worth repairing. The university library was short of space and being a copyright library was overcrowded and much of the material was not unpacked. The Committee also found that a large number of books were missing. The students had to leave a 20s. deposit before being allowed to borrow books and certain books were not available for loan.

The commissioners were in favour of a merger of the two colleges despite opposition from Kings College. They considered the unification as essential for the educational system of Northern Scotland although they disagreed with the proposed method of merger laid down by the last commission. The buildings of Marischal College were in very bad repair but new ones were under construction. Additions had been made in 1827 to Kings College buildings which were in a tolerable state of repair.

The Commission set out to examine the management of the university and to check that no posts had become sinecures. They found that the library had been reorganised in 1833 after its enlargement in 1826 and that, with the creation of a new Professor of Astronomy, the old observatory had been repaired and a new building was planned. The Commission found that although the senate had been asked in their last report to revise their regulations nothing had been done and therefore a questionnaire was compiled to try and frame a new set of regulations. None of the professorships was found to be a sinecure and a great increase in efficiency and zeal was observed in the academic departments.

[page 97]

The Commissioners found that none of the university posts had tenure and that the professors' incomes were low, and had to be made up out of surplus college funds. The University had accumulated a small debt over the purchase of parkland adjacent to St. Andrews from the Crown. Examining the curriculum, it was observed that those students pursuing a course in the arts spent the first session reading Latin and Greek, the second reading Latin, Greek, logic and mathematics, the third reading moral philosophy and chemistry.

The library was included in a section with the museum and observatories. The management of the library was revised in 1830 and 1839 and this was thought to have achieved considerable improvements. In lieu of copyright deposit the treasury granted £630 annually for book purchase, and between 1826 and 1846, 14,697 volumes had been added to the library. The Commissioners thought that further improvements would be achieved if the law was changed to allow some of the money to go towards book binding.

In 1838 a Literary and Philosophical Society of St. Andrews had been formed and in the November a museum had been begun when the Senate transferred collections of artifacts which had been left to the university for the museum.

The Commission was appointed to arrange the union of Kings College and Marischal College, Aberdeen. The union had been proposed in 1826 and again in 1836 and although the Commission had been in favour its recommendations had not been acted upon. This time the Commission recommended that there should be a complete union to be called the University of Aberdeen and to take the oldest foundation as its establishment, namely Kings College 1494. The library of Kings College should become the University library but each college should administer its own funds. It was hoped that this would reduce conflict between the two colleges.

[page 98]

Report on the Universities (Scotland) Act, 1858 with special reference to the regulation of universities and the joining of the two universities and colleges of Aberdeen.

Areas investigated by the Commission included:

1. The constitution and powers of the University Court
2. The functions of the General Council
3. The courses of study for Arts, Medicine, Law and Divinity
4. The need for new faculties and degrees
5. Entrance examinations
6. The creation of new professorships or lectureships
7. Assistance and apparatus
8. Duration of university sessions
9. Extra-mural teaching
10. Election of university officers
11. Retiring allowances of principals, professors and lecturers
12. Bursaries, scholarships and fellowships
13. Finance
14. University buildings, libraries and museums.

The recommendations included suggestions aimed at increasing the powers of the University Court. They also recommended the establishment of a General Universities Court for Scotland. They were in favour of an entrance examination for students in the Arts, Law and Medicine, and that no degree should be granted in Medicine without a degree in Surgery. A number of new professorships were suggested and many existing departments were recommended to obtain additional assistants and apparatus. Procedures were recommended for the awarding of bursaries, the election of University officers and deciding the retiral pensions of professors and principals.

Evidence was taken from the Principals of the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, St. Andrews and Aberdeen and numerous professors, lecturers, schoolmasters and clergymen. These included Professor Lister, Professor of Clinical Surgery in the University of Edinburgh (Vol. III, pp. 231-250) and John Small, Chief Librarian of Edinburgh University (Vol. II, pp. 71-72), who had a staff of four assistants and a boy and a £800 book-fund.

Vol. IV: Returns and documents includes returns from I, St. Andrews (pp. 1-139), II, Glasgow (pp. 143-205), III, Aberdeen (pp. 208-331), IV, Edinburgh (pp. 335-442). The statistics returned include numbers of students, number of degrees awarded per faculty, a return of bursaries, scholarships and fellowships and the number of people using the libraries.

[page 99]

"employed (by the 18th section of the Universities (Scotland) Act, 1889) to take evidence with a view to ascertain whether any and what changes as to the subscription of tests by principals, professors, and other university officers, are necessary and expedient."

The Test Acts were originally directed against Roman Catholics and Protestant Nonconformists to ensure that no one in public office opposed the views of the established Church under the Universities (Scotland) Act of 1889. No subscription of a test or declaration of faith was required of any professor or university officer except the principal of St. Marys College at St. Andrews University and all the professors of theology in Scottish universities. Previously, the professors, principals and university staff of any faculty were required to take the oath.

The Commissioners considered whether tests should be abolished altogether. They examined a number of witnesses representing the universities and various Churches in Scotland. Those from the universities discussed not only the question of tests but turned their attention to the question of theological research and instruction also.

Most of the principals and professors from Scottish universities did not agree that theologic chairs should be tenable only by members of the established Church. Principal Cunningham of St. Andrews University argued that as long as tests existed, "theology cannot be taught scientifically." He thought professors in theology should not only put forward the views of the Church of Scotland, and advocated more comprehensive teaching. The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, on the other hand, said that tests "secure that the theological teaching should be in harmony with the standards of the Church and with the convictions of the people of Scotland." The professors in theology were after all responsible for training the ministers of the established Church.

The Commissioners recommended that the tests should be abolished and the faculties of divinity in the Scottish universities should be retained. They said, "we believe that the abolition of the present Tests will remove an obstacle to the introduction of a more perfect system of theological instruction." However they were not wholly in agreement. Some of the Commissioners declined to sign the report, and instead suggested amendment of the tests.

Reports were submitted by 12 colleges which had participated during the year ended 31st March 1898 in the annual grant, amounting together with the three colleges in Wales which received a grant of £4,000 each from the Treasury.

[page 100]

University College, Dundee shared in this annual grant and a report was submitted by its Principal, John Yule Mackay (pp. 49-82). The report included details of the origin and constitution of the college, the constitution of the governing bodies, buildings, staff, students, fellowships, scholarships, bursaries, degrees and finance. An abstract of accounts for the year 1897, timetables of day and evening classes and results of degree examinations in the sessions 1893-4 to 1896-7 were also included. The union between University College, Dundee and St. Andrews University originated in 1885. During the sessions 1892-3 and 1893-4, the students at Dundee were awarded degrees by St. Andrews University, but the union between the two institutions was threatened by a lawsuit and during the following two sessions recognition in the departments of science and medicine was extended by the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. By 1898, the union with St. Andrews was restored on the original basis.

Reports were submitted by the colleges which had participated in the annual grant made by parliament to university colleges, during the year ended 31st March 1899. A report from the principal of University College, Dundee was included (pp. 53-92). According to the deed of endowment, the aims of the Trustees of this college should be directed towards "founding, establishing, endowing, maintaining, and conducting a college for promoting the education of persons of both sexes, and the study of science, literature and the fine arts." The report included extracts from the deed showing the regulations concerning the governors, the Council and the Education Board. It also included details of the college buildings, staff, day and evening classes, the number of students, hours of instruction, scholarships and results of degrees obtained, finance, the history of the college and its union with St. Andrews University.