Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/63

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Before making a few general remarks on our University and its varied studies, and the prospects of education in India, especially in its higher departments, I shall briefly advert to the report which has now been read, by order of the Syndicate, by our valued Registrar, Mr. Taylor. That report, generally speaking, we must all feel to be satisfactory and even gratifying. The only qualification which some may be disposed to make of this remark may have reference to the results of one or two of the examinations held this season, which have not altogether come up to our expectations. It has certainly been a disappointment, for example, to the public as well as to ourselves that, of 803 candidates who presented themselves for Matriculation, only 142 have successfully passed the examination, while of 600 candidates last year, 250 passed; and that of 100 undergraduates who presented themselves at the First Examination in Arts, only 34 have passed this year, while of 77 candidates last year, 40 passed. I am not prepared to say or insinuate in this place, that any fault exists in any quarter in connection with these results. Possibly the great body of the candidates who appeared for trial were on no reasonable expectancy fit for entrance into the University. Possibly some incidental errors of system may have been made by some of the examiners (competent and conscientious though they assuredly are) either in constructing their questions or assigning their marks. The time allotted for answering each paper is only three hours, and demands should not be made in excess of this time. Candidates are entitled to the benefit of each of their answers in so far as they are correct, while deductions, of course, are to be made for errors and defects. Possibly the instructions given to the examiners by the Syndicate should be extended, or a conference of certain classes of examiners held, as of those both in the first and second languages, before the questions to be given are printed, and before the results of examination are declared. Translations made from English into the Oriental languages, and from the Oriental languages into English, are certainly a test of the knowledge of English, as well as are the questions put and answered only in English. Our most satisfactory examination in Arts this year was that for the degree of B.A., at which 20 of 46 candidates passed. The other examinations do not require any special remark. The public, I think, may have confidence, from the very strictness practised, in the proficiency of our graduates, to whatever faculty they belong. I distinctly see, both from the feeling which I observe among students and the improving appearances of the colleges, a great increase of graduates in Medicine, Law, and Civil Engineering, who doubtless will promptly