116

OverviewVersionsHelp

Facsimile

Transcription

Status: Complete

106

notably that one in Greensboro founded by Charles Duncan Mclver in 1896 and now known by the name of the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina.

The objects of the institution (reads the charter) shall be to teach young white women all branches of knowledge recognized as essential to a liberal education, such as will familiarize them with the world's best thought and achievement and prepare them for intelligent and useful citizenship; to make special provision for training in the science and art of teaching, school management, and school supervision; to provide women with such training in the arts, sciences, and industries as may be conducive to their self-support and community usefulness...."

It is a signal fact and a singular fortune that thirty-one years ago the leaders of our state had the vision and the courage to join these three fruitful traditions and the separate institutions which each had fostered into one state university. As we look back upon it now in the light of what has happened to structural patterns of higher education in other states and in the light of growth and the manifest benefits to the institutions and to the state, it seems inevitable that they should have been joined together thereby increasing the power of each by the benefits of mutual aid and enrichment.

The need for Change in University Programs

The last two decades have been years of unparalleled growth in American public institutions of higher learning. In this period many states have struggled against the difficulties of uncontrolled duplication and unplanned coordination of institutions. The struggle has been frustrating and wasteful. North Carolina, on the other hand, has conducted the struggle not without normal frustration, to be sure, but on the more ordered and productive plan of ongoing internal administration. And more important, it has established a sound basis for experience and readiness to face the inevitable changes that lie ahead.

Modern society in America has become more and more dependent upon trained minds, and the demands it makes upon its people are such that those without education find themselves less and less able to occupy a satisfying place in our culture. The pressures for more and for better educational opportunities continue to grow at a geometric rate until today it is clear that the systems of education that have served well in the past are inadequate to meet the needs of our people. Our population is growing rapidly so that existing colleges and universities are unable to cope with the numbers that are asking for admission.

High school enrollments in North Carolina increased by 18,000 students a year ago. Last fall the increase was more than 20,000. This rate of increase is expected to continue for the next five to seven years. College enrollments in this state have also increased dramatically. In 1940 there were 32,000 students enrolled in our institutions of college and university rank; in 1950 the number had grown to 45,000; and by 1960 there were 68,000 such students. Last year college and university enrollments had reached 75,000. A fifty percent increase has occurred during the last six years.

The enrollment study made by Dr. Hamilton for the Governor's Commission on Education Beyond the High School indicates that at least 93,000 college and university students will be seeking admission to the institutions of higher education in this state in 1965 with 96,000 a more probable figure. By the end of this decade we may expect a minimum of 109,700 applicants for admission with a greater probability of 117,000 young men and women requesting places in our colleges and universities.

Private colleges and universities plan a sufficient expansion to accommodate 11,250 additional students. This means that the public institutions must be prepared to accept about 60% of the student increase expected in 1970. Some 30, 000 more students will then be seeking educational opportunities beyond those provided in our secondary schools.

Major changes in our system of higher education are urgently needed to meet the demands that lie immediately ahead. Although the quality of

Notes and Questions

Nobody has written a note for this page yet

Please sign in to write a note for this page