Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/275

 candidates for Matriculation and the number of successful candidates, and also the number of degrees conferred at the commencement of each of the three decades which we have passed through since 1862, and also the corresponding figures for the current year 1891-92, which is the first year of a new decade. Now in 1862, there were 86 candidates for Matriculation, of whom 39, or 45 per cent, of the total number of candidates, passed the examination. In 1872, the corresponding figures were 840 and 227, the percentage of passed candidates thus being 27. Ten years later the figures rose to 1,374 and 388, the percentage of passed candidates being 28; and in the current year there have been 3,030 candidates, of whom 916, or 30 per cent.,have satisfied the examiners. We see then that the number of students who have annually qualified themselves for admission to colleges affiliated to the University has risen from 39 in 1862 to 916 in 1891-92. That is to say, in 31 years, the number has increased more than 23 times; while in the current year, for every candidate for Matriculation who has satisfied the examiners, there are at least two others who have prepared themselves for the examination and have therefore received such advantage as is implied by such preparation in the upper forms of a high school. It is more important, however, to consider how far the students of our affiliated colleges have been able to satisfy the several tests prescribed by the University for degrees. We find then that, whereas, in 1862, t the University conferred only 8 degrees, the number has trebled in 10 years; for in 1872, it rose to 24. In the next 10 years it has more than trebled, for, in 1882, it rose to 76. In the past ten years, the rate of increase has not been so high, but the actual advance is very great, for the number of candidates who have actually qualified themselves for admission to degrees to-day, the greater part of whom have probably just presented themselves for admission, is 208. This number includes one candidate who qualified for the B.A. degree some years ago and wishes to be admitted to it to-day in absentia. It shows an advance of 132 on the corresponding number for 1882 and an advance of 19 on the results of 1891, when 184 candidates qualified themselves for degrees, of whom 178 were admitted. Of the candidates who have qualified themselves for admission to degrees to-day, 130 are Bachelors of Arts, 6 are Masters of Arts, and one is a Bachelor of Science, 34 are Bachelors of Laws, 22 are Licentiates of Medicine and Surgery, one is a Doctor of Medicine, and 2 are Licentiates of Engineering. To sum up, 137 candidates have qualified themselves for degrees in Arts, 34 in Law, 23 in Medicine, and one in Engineering. These figures show that