The Course of Study.— The conventional course of study in the American university for the undergraduate has from the very beginning until recent times covered four college years. It has frequently been urged that "there is nothing magical or imperative in the term of years," and educators have widely discussed the desirability of shortening the college course, especially for the student who takes up pro fessional study after he secures his bacca laureate degree. It is now possible to secure this degree in many institutions in less than four years and to secure both the baccalaureate and the professional degrees in seven years; but the traditional four-year course yet prevails in the main and seems not likely to give way rapidly for the great majority of students.
It is frequently urged also that the term of four years has no natural relation to a course of study. The subjects offered in the undergraduate course show bolder departures from the earlier types. The English model was followed in our universities almost exclusively until the Revolution. The degree of bachelor of arts, based upon classical and philosophical studies, prevailed. Yale followed the example of Harvard, and Princeton followed the ex ample of her predecessors. It was not until 1846 that the Lawrence Scientific School was established and provision made for a course leading to the degree of bachelor of science. College catalogs present a great variety of courses of study and many degrees of prescrip tion, hut are commonly reducible to three types, as follows: (1) Those in which all the work for the degree is prescribed; (2) those which pre scribe part and leave the rest to the choice of the student; (3) those which contain prescribed courses, require concentration in one or more departments and leave a certain proportion open for the free election of the student.
Graduate The graduate school of fering advanced courses of study leading to the master's and the doctor's degrees is of com paratively recent growth in this country. Harvard enrolled students as °resident gradu ates" before 1800 and Yale established a °de partment of philosophy and the arts" for scientific and graduate study in 1847, but it was not until 1860 that Yale made the ,first announcement in the United States concerning the awarding of the degree of doctor of phi losophy. Harvard followed in 1872 with the announcement that it would confer the degrees of doctor of philosophy and doctor of science.
According to the report of the United States Commissioner of Education 31,826 baccalaureate degrees were conferred in 1915-16 by univer sities, colleges and technological schools in the United States, 20,586 upon men and 11,240 upon women. In the same year 4,524 graduate de grees were conferred, 3,462 upon men and 1,062 upon women. There were also 825 honorary degrees conferred. The degree of doctor of philosophy included in the above was conferred on examination by 42 institutions on 520 men and 81 women. No reputable institu tion which is not adequately prepared to do so undertakes to award this degree upon ex amination. It is, therefore, a reasonably safe index to the institutions, which regardless of title are prepared to do university work. The degree of doctor of philosophy was granted on examination in 1916 as follows: University of California,. 22; University of Denver, 2; Yale University, 50; Catholic University of America, 3; George Washington University, 6; University of Chicago, 74; Northwestern Uni versity, 3; University of Illinois, 33; Indiana University, 4; Iowa State College, 1 State University of Iowa, 8; University of Kansas, 1; Johns Hopkins University, 37; Massachu setts Agricultural College, 3; Boston University, 5'; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 3; Harvard University, 52; Clark University, 13; Radcliffe College, 4; University of Michigan, 22; University of Minnesota, 7; University of Missouri, 5; University of Nebraska, 1; Prince ton University, 27; Rutgers College, 1; Cor nell University, 34; Columbia University, 88; New York University, 8; Syracuse University, 3; University of North Carolina, 2; Ohio State University, 3;• University of Cincinnati, 2; Bryn Mawr College, 3; Grove City College, 3; University of Pennsylvania, 12; University of Pittsburgh, 1; Brown University, 6; University of Texas, 3; University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, 1; University of Virginia, 2; University of Washington, 1; University of Wisconsin, 37.
The requirements for 'the degrees of doctor of philosophy and master of arts are reason ably uniform in reputable institutions through out the country. The following statement from the Yale Catalogue for 1916-17 gives the typi cal requirements for these degrees. °The de gree of doctor of philosophy is conferred upon students of either sex who hold the bachelor's degree from a college of high standing, and have satisfactorily completed not less than three years of graduate study and met the other pre scribed conditions for the degree. Students who have received their bachelor's degree from colleges not of sufficiently high standing must expect to spend more than three years in gradu ate study; the length of time to be determined in each case by the character of their previous work and the quality of the work done here. With the approval of the faculty, work of equal grade done in residence at other universities will be accepted for the degree, but not less than one year of graduate work must be done in this university. .Ordinarily the final year of residence should not be devoted wholly to the completion of the dissertation, but the candi date, unless especially excused by the depart inent in which his major work is done, should continue some plan of study involving attend ance on at least one course. It must be under stood, however, that the degree is not given as a certificate of residence and work, however faithful; it is granted only to such students as give evidence of general proficiency, power of investigation and high attainments in the special field in which the major work is done. The evidence of such attainments must be given by dissertation and by examinations. Evidence of sufficient attainments in German and French at least two years before the degree is given must be presented to the dean. The dissertation should show that the candidate has technical mastery of the field in which he presents him self, is capable of doing independent scientific work, and is able to formulate such conclu sions as may in some respects modify or en large what was previously known. . . A gen eral oral or written examination, as the depart ment may determine, irrespective of examina tions upon single courses, shall be held upon the whole major subject offered by the can didate and upon such subordinate subjects as may be required by the department." °The degree of master of arts is conferred upon men who hold the bachelor's degree from. a college of high standing and have satisfae tarily completed not less than two years of resident graduate study and met the other pre scribed conditions for the degree. Work done in absentia will not be accepted. Students who have received their degree from colleges not of sufficiently high standing must expect to spend more than two years in graduate study, the length of time to be determined in each case .by the character of their previous work and the quality of the work done here. Resi dence at another university may be accepted for the first of these years, provided the evi dence of work submitted is satisfactory to the committee on the degree. A reading knowledge of one language other than English is required before the student will be accepted as a can didate for the degree, and any department of study may make a specific requirement of a reading knowledge of French or German or both." Statistical The following statistics from the report of the United States Commis s:oner of Education for the year 1915-16 give evidence of the scope of the work of higher educational institutions in the United States: Number of institutions, 574; number of students enrolled in collegiate and resident graduate de partments, 259,511, of whom 164,075 were men and 95,436 women; number of instructors, 34,869, of whom 28,472 were men and 6,397 women; total receipts, $133,627,211; productive funds, $425,245,270; benefactions during the year, $30,196,006; number of fellowships, 17,774; number of volumes in libraries,' 20,234,734; value of library, scientific apparatus, machinery and furniture, $80,554,609; value of grounds, $87,607,540; value of buildings,• including dorrui+ tories $307,159,298.