Bulletin Spring‧Summer 1978

which are of direct relevance to his future career. It should help him develop an analytical mind and a critical attitude so that he can form valued judge ments. And it should foster in him an inquisitiveness so that he will search for general underlying principles. A university expects that at the end of their courses its students will not merely be able to com prehend the extent and significance of what is already known within their own field, but will be receptive to new ideas, eager to explore them, show the ability to cope with them, and, above all, be able to work con fidently on their own. As this is especially true of postgraduate students, it follows that these students must be trained in research methods which are, in a sense, the most fundamental tools in the quest for knowledge. But research training must not be taken to mean a training in the systematic search for new knowledge only. It should also embrace a training in the develop ment of previously discovered knowledge for practical use, the careful evaluation of knowledge or of works of art or philosophical speculation already in exis tence, the conservation of accumulated human knowledge and experience, and artistic creation. The Robbins Report pointed out that “there are many persons of first class ability, particularly in the humanities, who have never engaged in research in the narrow sense or felt any urge to publish, but whose breadth of culture, ripeness of judgement and wide- ranging intellectual curiosity are priceless assets in a department or college". Such teachers can also contri bute much to the education of graduate students. Some universities offer research degrees and coursework degrees at the postgraduate level in many academic disciplines. In addition, there are post graduate diploma or certificate programmes by coursework in vocational subjects. If one accepts that research training is a required part of graduate educa tion, the important question will be how to introduce and assess the result of such training in coursework programmes. For different Faculties, research training perhaps should not carry uniform weight. While the point and importance of research in the study of science needs no labouring, the same cannot be said for studies in arts. The scientific researcher is normally a member of a team, engaged in a project which can be integrated into the programme of his laboratory. His arts col league is differently placed. He is often doing research on an individual topic which he maybe able to discuss with his supervisor whom he sees only from time to time. Furthermore, he may be working on an obscure topic the elucidation of which adds only minimally to the sum of human knowledge and perhaps not at all to human happiness. But, if the efficacy of some research projects in the arts may be questionable, the need for research is not in doubt. One of the aims of the university is the pure pursuit of knowledge, free from social, political and dogmatic limitations, although it must never lose sight of its concern to prepare the students for life in the world. Graduate Education and Social Needs Now let us look at graduate education in relation to social needs. Because of its liberalizing effect, graduate education itself should be considered a social need. Expansion in graduate education is inevitable and desirable. The most powerful reason for develop ing postgraduate work is of course the explosion of knowledge. More and more people have stopped pretending that undergraduate work can reach the frontiers of knowledge. Those who want to become professionals in the fullest sense now realize that they will have to attend graduate schools. Because of this, there is no room for arguments in favour of restriction on postgraduate education based on the belief that “more means worse". The more is the result of the opening up of educational opportunity to more people especially those with talents which previously would lie idle and wasted. Surely developing such talents can only be beneficial to society. Equally fallacious is the view that graduate education should not be expanded because there will not be enough jobs for higher degree graduates. Supply can create demand and the job market is capable of adapting itself to a change in the educational system. The experience of other parts of the world indicates that the market will in fact adapt itself so as to employ persons with higher degrees or postgraduate training in jobs previously held by graduates or even non- graduates. The results of this may well be economically desirable. For instance, it will be helpful to have more better-trained personnel, such as Ph.D.'s and M.B.A.'s, in production or management positions. But even if the economic system has no need for any expansion of graduate education, one could still argue in favour 5