From the Board Room Window

From the Board Room Window Iw. E. Phillips When Winston Churchill said: "The University is a place where the future of the nation is at stake," he stated a little-recognized truth that should serve as our slogan in these challenging days. At the University of Toronto we have been conscious for several years of approaching problems which, if not resolved in time, might determine the usefulness of the University. If, in Churchill's phrase, the future of the nation is here at stake, the importance of those problems is evident. There is no mystery about their general nature. They are common to all the universities of the Western world. No two universities, however, are exactly alike, and each requires the measures appropriate to the local situation. There are at least two specific issues which give rise to our general concern about the future. First, greatly increased numbers of young people will be seeking admission to all Canadian universities. The statistical inevitability of this conclusion is now widely accepted. The conclusion is based on the well-known studies of Dr. E. F. Sheffield of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, in which he took into account the birth-rate figures combined with the trend towards an annual increase in the proportion of the college age group who will, in the future, seek admission to the universities. The population studies suggest that the total student emolment in Canadian universities will rise from 71,000 in 1955- 6 to 83,000 in 1960-1, and to 128,000 in 1965- 6. Putting it in general terms, the student population in Canadian universities will be approximately doubled by 1965- 6. In the case of the University of Toronto, Professor B. A. Griffith has made a forecast of the student population we may expect. He projects a possible enrolment of from 14,000 to 17,000 in 1960-1, and from 18,000 to 26,000 in 1965-6. We have had experience in dealing with greatly increased numbers. Ten years ago the enrolment in Canadian FROM THE BOARD ROOM WINDOW 497 universities reached a record total of 83,150, of whom 19.3 per cent were enrolled in the University of Toronto. We are not now, however, confronted by any temporary bulge in the student population, as was the case in 1947. The statisticians predict that, with rapidly increasing numbers in this part of Canada, the proportion attending the University of Toronto will rise. Certainly it is obvious that Toronto must shoulder a large share of the projected Canadian increase. The second specific issue confronting us is the growing demand for substantially increased numbers of university graduates, particularly those with scientific and technical training. That there is a serious shortage of scientifically and technically trained manpower in Canada is now generally recognized. That this constitutes a potential danger to national prosperity is agreed. What is not so widely understood, however, is that this problem is much more than a mere question of numbers. As Dr. J. R. Killian, the President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recently put it so well: "The nature of the present dearth of scientists and engineers is not simply a shortage of men. Firstly, it is a shortage of intellectual talent adequately educated in the right place. Secondly, it is more a shortage of specific talents and skills adaptable to specific areas than a general shortage of numbers." The broad recognition of these problems has awakened a new and lively interest in the universities-"where the future of the nation is at stake." It has led to a widespread desire on the part of industry and the public generally to assist the universities in finding practical solutions. Robert M. Hutchins has pointed out that education is a practical matter. The final results of any educational system depend upon what you want and what you can do. What you want depends upon finding an acceptable philosophy of education, and what you can do depends upon your circumstances-that is, in most cases, upon the financial support you can obtain. As I read the history of the University of Toronto, its continued growth from the beginning has depended upon the ability of...