Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/259

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University of Bombay.

respect the autonomy and the independence of this University and I can give you no better proof of it than this : that when it became clear to Government that the Bill did not meet in the Senate with that approval which Government expected it would have received, we decided, on my honourable friend's suggestion, not to promote a measure which, perhaps, was rather in advance of the times, and we are prepared to wait quietly until the University itself appeals to Government in very decisive tones to proceed with the measure. There is one subject to which the Vice-Chancellor has alluded, which, I know, to the greater part of this audience is one of the greatest importance—I mean the matter of examinations. The institution of a Board of Studies. I might, perhaps, before we part suggest that to maintain in your examinations that continuity of standards, which is so desirable, it may be deemed advisable by you to institute a Board of Studies to which all examination papers should be referred before they are issued to the students. Thereby we shall attain that fixity of standard which is required in testing educational results, and at the same time, where necessary, that diversity in standards which science forces upon our educational methods. Now with regard to the Faculty of Science, which sooner or later this University is sure to have, your standards will obviously be of a very mobile character. You cannot keep science in a ring fence when discoveries in all quarters of the world are tearing down the fence, and therefore with regard to science you will have to alter your standards as well as your instruction in accordance with the progress of science. To the Medical Faculty the same truth applies. You have a constant and marvellous progress all along the line, and the University of Bombay cannot decline to keep pace. With regard to the Faculty of Arts, you may rest content in the placid study of those noble old monuments of ancient classical models, which remain unsurpassed and from which alone you can derive simplicity of expression and pureness of style. With reference to the Faculty of Law, your standards must vary as modern developments make it necessary to change your laws, and it is imperative upon you to take care that the students who pass through that examination should be well versed in the philosophy of law, so that in the interpretation of the letter of the law there should never arise that divorce between law and common sense, which since the days of Justinian it has been the aim of all great jurists to avoid. Now, I have only to bid you a hearty and very cordial farewell. My connection with this University is severed, but my interest in it will remain permanent. I shall watch with great interest the proceedings at these your festive occasions, and I