FOR PRESS , MNo5019
UNIVERSITY-DELELOPMNT~ ING4NBERR,
Statement by the Prime M'in-ster, The Rt.' Hon. ROG. Menzies.
Cabinet has devoted much time to ! resolving the
question of the future of the Canberra University College.
Should it be given full and independent University status or
should it be organically associated with the Australian National
University? We have decided in favour of association.
Mindful of the importance of self-government in
University institutions, we have not attempted to work out any
details. lie are inviting both institutions to co-operate in
preparing a plan which will serve as a basis for association in
one university, with one over-all governing-body, one series of
degrees and, as far as is practicable, a comnmon administration.
As this decision is one of great tmoment for those
concerned, I think it ' proper to set out as succinctly as
possible some of the major considerations which have led us to
our conclusion. 4Ie have had close and prolonged ministerial
discussion. I have personally had consultations with representatives
of the A. N. U. and C. U. C. Their views favoured separate
development, and have, of course, been care'fully weighed. When
I was in London earlier this year, I discussed the problem with
Sir Keith Murray, whose committee on Australian Universities had
left this matter open, though with some broad indication of its
approach. More recently, I invited the ne ly-appointed
Australian Universities Commission, under the Chairmanship of
Sir Leslie Martin., to give its opinion.
In the result, the views which Cabinet had tentatively
formed are supported by those of Sir Keith Murray and of the
Universities Commission.
In its celebrated report the Murray Committee said
that " It clearly is a matter for very seriot'is consideration
whether there should be in so small a centr e of population two
quite independent universities". Later tH~ e Committee said:
" It should be possible, in our view, to devise a form
of constitution giving to the College all the independence in
operation which both the National UniversitY and the College
desire and yet making it possible for students at the College to
receive degrees of the National University and for common services
to be organized and maintained without unnecessary duplication.
Such a constitution for a university would be a new
thing in Australia; but there are patterns-of various types in
universities overseas which might viell be studied and we think
it should not pass the wit of man to devise constitutional
arrangements which might suit the situation in Canberra in a
manner which would be acceptable to all concerned".
In conversation with me in London, Sir Keith
developed very strongly his belief that two universities could
not be justified. The principal reasons for this opinion
reasons which have commended themselves to the Cabinet are,
first, that it would be difficult to justify the creation of two
universities in Canberra with a population of around 40O, 000 at a
time when efforts to create second universities in Sydney and
Melbourne are, in the case of Sydney, by no means completed and,
in the case of Melbourne, largely at the ' paper stage'. Where,
as in Australia at the present time, there is a marked and nation
-wide pressure for more universities, care must be taken to
devote the available resources to the best advantage from an
Australia-wide point of view. Second, if the C. U. C. is to
C 2.
become a separate university and is not to be a second-rate
university, it cannot stop at first degrees it must cater for
post-graduate studies. Above all it must provide facilities for
research, and such facilities'are increasipigly costly. The
consequence of this is that a separate and properly developed
Canberra University would, to an extent, duiplicate the Australian
National University at the post-graduate stage or would
need, at -that stage, to become organically associated with the
A. N. U. At a later stage, I consulted thp newly-formed
Australian Universities Commission, a body especially created to
co-ordinate the work of the universities and to examine their
financial requirements. On October 21, 1 received a report
from Sir Leslie Martin, the matorial portion of which is as
follows 11 The Commission has considered this problem, with a
knowledge of the facts and views recently put before Cabinet,
and has unanimously concluded that some form of association
is both desirable and practicable. Further, Commissioners
believe that if the concept of association is accepted it
can be more easily achieved now than later.
It should be possible for a form of association to be
worked out by a committee consisting of representatives of
the Australian National University and the Canberra University
College during the next twelve mpnths. Presumably
such a committee would have before it full details of
distinguished and successful forms of association between
research institutes and universities elsewhere, e~ g.,
Chicago, Columbia, Harvard and Princeton.
Before reaching its decision to recommend in favour
of association, the Commission gave some thought to the
means by which this could be achieved. It seems to the
Commission essential that there should be one institution,
to be called the Australian National Univelsity, and that
it should have one Council, with a Vice-Chancellor as its
chief executive officer.
The Commission went on to indicate diagramatically
certain suggested forms of organisation which I have conveyed to
the two bodies concerned.
We are au~ are of a view current in the A. N. U. that that
body should, to achieve its true position : in Australian University
life, be related and have duties to all Australian universities
and not just to one. Our reply is that the fact of
amalgamation in Canberra would not mean that the highly
specialised researchers of the A. N. U. would not be available to
State Universities or that there could not be effective exchange
of research workers betwieen all. Ile are quite aware of the fact
that there are some highly specialised investigations conducted
at the A. N. U. which could not be sensibly interrupted by the
routine teaching of undergraduates. But as we all know,
teaching and exposition have riat value in clarifying the mind
and in actually testing conclusions already tentatively arrived
at. It may turn out to be extremely useful for courses of
lectures to advanced honours' students, for example, to be
delivered by some of the -reat and world-famous expc rts in the
Australian National University as it is today constituted. Lie
feel also that if the University is to achieve its greatest
results, not only in the granting of degrees but in the stimulation
of the mind, there will be enormous advantage for students
with a bent towards research to have the great advantage of
contact with men of 7reat eminence in their own field.
3.
In short, we have made our decision for association
because we believe that together and as one institution the
National University and the College will offer to Australia in
the next generation more than they can hopp to offer separately.
It is not our intention that this decision should interfere
with the turk being carried on by either body or prejudice the
proper exercise of responsibility by those wlao deal with
graduates or under., raduates. ' e are quite confident that the
two bodies together will work out a plan which will preserve the
interests of workers in both and provide ani organisation which
will enable them to co-operate fully for the banefit of both.
The working out of the necessary arrangements will take
some time. It cannot be done in a hurry. Our decision means
that the new association will operate by the beginning of 1961.
As the current arrangements with the University of
Melbourne, which has nurtured the welfare of the Canberra
University College for a quarter of a century, were due to
terminate at the end of 1959, I requested the Council of the
University of Melbourne to extend its affiliation for one year,
that is, until the end of 1960. That Council has most
generously decided to extend its legislation relating to
Canberra University College until the end of 1960. I am indeed
most grateful for this decision, which will enable the scheme
of association to be formed without undue pressure, though it
must be brought to finality in good time.
CANBERRA, 17th December, 1959.