OXFORD STUDIES AND EXAMINATIONS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
[Sidenote: Examination Statute of 1800 and later amendments]
‘The studies of the University were first raised from their abject
state by a statute passed in 1800.’ Such is the testimony of the
Oxford University Commissioners appointed in 1850, and it is amply
confirmed by University records. The Laudian system was doomed to
failure from the first, inasmuch as it provided no security for the
capacity of examiners or against their collusion with the candidates,
while these were animated by little fear of rejection and no hope
whatever of distinction. The statute of 1800, for which the credit
is mainly due to Dr. Eveleigh, then Provost of Oriel, was directed
to cure these defects. That it was regarded as a vigorous attempt to
raise the standard of degree examinations is proved by the fact that
in 1801, the last year of the ‘old system,’ the number of B.A. degrees
suddenly rose to 250, largely exceeding the average of degrees and
even of matriculations in several preceding years. The new statute was
deliberately based on the Laudian system, in so far as it presupposed
an inherent supremacy in the faculty of Arts, and it was unconsciously
based on the old mediæval curriculum of Trivials and Quadrivials, in
so far as it specified grammar, rhetoric, logic, moral philosophy,
and the elements of mathematics—with the important addition of Latin
and Greek literature—as the essential subjects of examination. But it
effected a grand reform in the method of examination. Candidates were
to offer themselves either for what has since been known as a ‘pass,’
or for Honours, and the Honour-list was to be divided into two classes,
in which the names were to be arranged in order of merit. There was
also to be a further examination for the M.A. degree, comprising higher
mathematical subjects, history, and Hebrew; while candidates for the
B.C.L. degree were to be examined in history and jurisprudence, besides
the subjects required for the B.A. degree. Moreover, the examiners were
thenceforth to be paid by salary, and chosen by responsible officers
to serve for considerable periods. They were solemnly charged to
deliberate maturely and secretly on the merits of the candidates,
_sepositis omnino amicitiâ et odio, timore ac spe_. Material changes
were introduced into this system by statutes of 1807, modified again
in 1809, 1825, 1826, and 1830. The general effect of these changes
was to substitute, in the main, written papers for oral questions, to
establish two stated times in the year for examination, to subdivide
the list of honours into three classes, to relegate mathematics to a
‘School’ by itself, to abrogate the examination for the M.A. degree,
and to make the Greek and Latin languages, philosophy, and history,
the staple of examination in what now came to be called the _Literæ
Humaniores_ School, though permission was given to illustrate the
ancient by modern authors. Meanwhile, the old scholastic exercise of
Responsions _in Parviso_ was replaced by an elementary examination,
bearing the same name, to be passed in the second year.
[Sidenote: Examination Statute of 1850 and later amendments]
Such was the Oxford examination-system when it was transformed afresh
in 1850, by a statute which has been amended and extended by many
supplementary measures. A ‘First Public Examination,’ popularly known
as ‘Moderations,’ was interposed between Responsions and the final
examination for the B.A. degree, thenceforth officially designated
the ‘Second Public Examination.’ This intermediate examination, in
which honours are awarded, was specially designed to encourage and
test a scholarlike knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages, ancient
history, philosophy, and logic being mainly reserved for the Final
Classical, or _Literæ Humaniores_, School. The Honour School of
Mathematics was retained, and two new Schools were established, the one
for Natural Science, the other for Law and Modern History. This last
School was afterwards divided into two schools, of Jurisprudence and
of Modern History, respectively, while a sixth Honour School was added
for Theology. Until the year 1883, two examinations were held annually
in each of the six Honour Schools, but in and since that year one only
has been held, and that in Trinity Term. Two examinations, however,
continued to be held annually for candidates seeking an ordinary
degree, and these ‘pass examinations’ were subdivided into several
branches, for the purpose of securing a tolerable degree of proficiency
in more than one subject of study.
[Sidenote: University Commission of 1850]
The important examination statutes of 1850 were in contemplation, but
not yet in operation, when a Royal Commission was issued, on August
31, in that year, ‘for the purpose of inquiring into the state,
discipline, studies, and revenues’ of the University and colleges.
The report of this Commission is the most comprehensive review of the
whole University system which has ever been published. It recommended
various important reforms, of which some were effected by an Act of
Parliament enacted in 1854, and others through Ordinances framed by
executive commissioners, therein appointed, for the several colleges.
In 1850, the sole initiative power in University legislation, and by
far the largest share of University administration, was still vested
in the ‘Hebdomadal Board,’ consisting solely of heads of colleges with
the two proctors, and described by no unfriendly critic of Oxford
institutions as ‘an organised torpor.’ The assembly of resident and
‘regent’ Masters of Arts, known as the ‘House of Congregation,’ still
existed for the purpose of granting degrees, but its other business
had dwindled to mere formalities. The University Convocation included,
as ever, all Masters of Arts, resident or non-resident, and had the
right of debating, but this right was virtually annulled by the
necessity of speaking in Latin—all but a lost art—and Convocation
could only accept or reject without amendment measures proposed by
the Hebdomadal Board. No student could be a member of the University
without belonging to a college or hall, while every member of a college
or hall was compelled to sleep within its walls, until after his third
year of residence. Persons unable to sign the Thirty-nine Articles were
absolutely excluded, not merely from degrees, but from all access to
the University, inasmuch as the test of subscription was enforced at
matriculation. Nevertheless, college fellowships were further protected
against the intrusion of dissenters by the declaration of conformity
to the liturgy required to be made under the Act of Uniformity. If
professorial lectures were not at so low an ebb as in the days of
Gibbon, they were lamentably scarce and ineffective. The educational
function of the University had, in fact, been almost wholly merged in
college tuition, but the scholarships, as well as the fellowships, of
the colleges were fettered by all manner of restrictions, which marred
their value as incentives to industry. The great majority of fellows
were bound to take Holy Orders, and the whole University was dominated
by a clerical spirit, which directly tended to make it, as it had so
long been, a focus of theological controversy.
[Sidenote: Act of 1854 and new College Ordinances]
Though several of the wise and liberal measures recommended by the
Commission of 1850 were postponed to a more convenient season, a
profound and most beneficial reform was wrought in the whole spirit
and working of the University system by the Act of 1854, and the
College Ordinances framed under its provisions. The Hebdomadal Board
was replaced by an elective Council, on which Heads of colleges,
professors, and resident Masters of Arts were equally represented.
A new ‘Congregation’ was created, embracing all resident members of
Convocation, and soon became a vigorous deliberative assembly, with the
right of speaking in English. The monopoly of colleges was broken down,
and an opening made for ulterior extension by the revival of private
halls. The professoriate was considerably increased, reorganised, and
re-endowed, by means of contributions from colleges. The colleges
were emancipated from their mediæval statutes, were invested with new
constitutions, and acquired new legislative powers. The fellowships
were almost universally thrown open to merit, and the effect of this
was not merely to provide ample rewards for the highest academical
attainments, but to place the governing power within colleges in the
hands of able men, likely to promote further improvements. The number
and value of scholarships was largely augmented, and many, though not
all, of the restrictions upon them were abolished. The great mass of
vexatious and obsolete oaths was swept away, and though candidates for
the M.A. degree and persons elected to fellowships were still required
to make the old subscriptions and declarations, it was enacted that
no religious test should be imposed at matriculation, or on taking a
bachelor’s degree. The University itself had supplemented the extension
of its curriculum and examination system by the foundation of a new
museum specially consecrated to natural science. The permanence of this
extension was, however, additionally secured by a clause introduced
into the College Ordinances, whereby it was directed that fellowships
should be appropriated, from time to time, for the encouragement of all
the studies recognised by the University.
[Sidenote: Effect of these reforms]
Other salutary changes naturally grew out of this comprehensive reform,
and far greater progress was made by the University during the thirty
years immediately following it than in any previous century of its
history. The impulse given to education reacted upon learning and
research; Oxford science began once more to command the respect of
Europe; the professoriate received an accession of illustrious names;
and college tuition, instead of being the mere temporary vocation of
fellows waiting for livings, gradually placed itself on the footing
of a regular profession. Instead of drying up the bounty of founders,
as had been confidently predicted, the reforms of 1854 apparently
caused the stream of benefactions to flow with renewed abundance.
Nearly all the older colleges have extended their buildings, mostly
by the aid of private munificence, a new college has been erected,
bearing the name of the Rev. John Keble, and Magdalen Hall has been
refounded, under its original name of Hertford College, with a large
new endowment, provided by Mr. C. Baring. Meanwhile, a new class of
‘unattached’ or ‘non-collegiate’ students has been created, the number
of which rose to 284 in the year 1880, though it has since manifested
a tendency to fall. The aggregate strength of the University has been
doubled within the same period of thirty-two years, and the net total
of undergraduates in residence has been swelled from about 1,300 to
upwards of 2,500, and the annual matriculations have increased in a
like proportion.
[Sidenote: Abolition of University Tests]
The relaxation of the ‘classical monopoly’ and the opening of
scholarships was supplemented, in 1871, by a still more important
reform—the complete abolition of University Tests, already reduced
by the Act of 1854. This great concession to religious liberty was
brought about by a persistent movement chiefly emanating from the
Universities themselves. In the year 1862 a petition was presented from
74 resident fellows of colleges at Cambridge, praying for a repeal
of the clause applicable to fellowships in the Act of Uniformity. In
the year 1863, a petition was presented from 106 Heads, professors,
fellows, ex-fellows, and college tutors at Oxford, praying for the
removal of all theological restrictions on degrees. In the year 1868, a
petition against all religious tests, except for degrees in theology,
was signed by 80 Heads, professors, lecturers, and resident fellows
at Oxford, while a similar petition was signed by 123 non-resident
fellows and ex-fellows. In the same year a petition to the same effect
was signed by 227 heads and present or former office-holders and
fellows of Cambridge. Separate petitions, specially directed against
the declaration of conformity, were presented by Trinity and Christ’s
Colleges at Cambridge. Supported by the whole Nonconformist body and
by the Liberal party in Parliament, these efforts were ultimately
successful. The contest in Parliament lasted no less than nine years,
and one Bill after another was defeated or withdrawn, but in 1871 the
abolition of University Tests was adopted as a government measure and
accepted by the House of Lords. Experience has not justified the fears
of its opponents, and neither the religious character nor the social
peace of the University has been in the slightest degree impaired by
the admission of Nonconformists to its degrees and endowments.
[Sidenote: Local examinations, and board for examination of public
schools]
But the impulse given to academical education by the legislation
of 1854 is not to be measured solely by the internal growth of the
University, now accessible to every class in the nation. Since that
period it has initiated and carried out two educational movements of
national importance, the one in concert, the other in friendly rivalry,
with the University of Cambridge. The first of these was the scheme of
local examinations for pupils of middle-class schools, established by
a statute passed at Oxford in 1857, afterwards adopted by Cambridge,
and now exercising a regulative influence on middle-class education
throughout England. The examination of public schools by a joint-board
representing the two Universities was originated in 1873, and was
doubtless facilitated by the fear, then prevalent, of State-inspection
being applied to endowed schools. At these examinations certificates
are granted, which, under certain limitations, carry with them an
exemption from Responsions at Oxford, as well as from a part of the
‘previous examinations’ at Cambridge, and of the military examinations.
Such certificates may be regarded as supplying the rudiments of a
missing link not only between secondary and University education, but
also between secondary and professional education.
[Sidenote: Commission of inquiry (1872) and Act of 1876]
In the meantime, a new wave of democratic sentiment in Parliament
impelled Mr. Gladstone to issue, in January 1872, a commission to
inquire into academical property and revenues, as a preliminary step
to further legislation. The functions of this commission were strictly
limited to investigation and to matters of finance, no power being
entrusted to it either of passing judgment on the actual application of
University and college funds, or of suggesting a better application of
them—much less of entering on general questions of University reform.
These questions were destined to be reopened, and a fresh appropriation
of academical endowments to be made, by the Conservative Government
which came into office in the spring of 1874. At this period the
system established by the Oxford Reform Act of 1854, and the executive
commission thereby appointed, had barely taken root, but a vigorous
agitation was already in progress against it, mainly on the ground that
it had done too much for educational competition and too little for
learning or research. The principle upon which a fresh commission was
now demanded was not so much the expediency of redistributing college
revenues for the benefit of the colleges themselves, as the expediency
of diverting them from the colleges to the University, especially
in the interests of Natural Science. The Marquis of Salisbury, as
Chancellor of the University and an important member of the government,
heartily espoused these claims, and introduced a Bill expressly
designed to enrich the University at the expense of the colleges.
[Sidenote: Commission of 1877]
This Bill was passed, with some amendments, in 1877. Its preamble
recited the expediency of making larger provision out of college
revenues for University purposes. It proceeded to institute an
executive commission, armed with sweeping powers of revision and
legislation; but, as a safeguard for the interests of colleges, it gave
each college, not indeed a veto upon the statutes to be framed, but a
share in framing them, by means of elected representatives, associated
_pro tempore_ with the commissioners. It further enjoined that in
assessing contributions on colleges, regard should first be had to the
educational wants of the college itself. Accordingly, the commissioners
sat for several years, and elaborated an entirely new code both for
the University and for the colleges, repealing all previous college
statutes or ordinances, but leaving the legislative constitution of
the University untouched. They charged the colleges with an aggregate
subsidy of 20,000_l._ and upwards for the endowment of professorships
and readerships or lectureships, the contributions of wealthy colleges
being fixed on a higher scale than those of poorer colleges. By the
same process they set free a certain amount of University income for
such objects as the maintenance of buildings and libraries. They
regulated the payment, duties, and appointment of professors and
readers, as well as the nomination of University examiners, which had
been subjected to much criticism. They made some approach towards
an organisation of University teaching, by grouping studies roughly
under Faculties, and giving ‘Boards of Faculties’ a certain limited
control over the distribution of lectures. They formulated extremely
minute rules for the publication of University and college accounts.
They remodelled the whole system of college fellowships, attaching
the greater number of them to University or college offices, but
retaining about one hundred sinecure fellowships, terminable in seven
years, with an uniform stipend of 200_l._ a year, and subject to no
obligations of residence or celibacy. With certain exceptions, they
abolished all clerical restrictions on fellowships or headships, but
regulated various details of college management and tuition which the
former commissioners had left in the discretion of each governing body.
They established an uniform standard of age and value for college
scholarships, requiring, as a rule, that no candidate should have
exceeded nineteen, and that no scholarship should be worth more than
80_l._ annually. They also provided for the appropriation of any surplus
revenues which should accrue, to college or University purposes.
[Sidenote: Character of last reforms]
It is too soon to pronounce a judgment on the effect of these reforms,
some of which have not yet come into full operation, and which have
been supplemented by incessant changes in the examination statutes,
made by the University itself. Indeed, notwithstanding the bold
amendments which it has undergone, the constitution and educational
system of the University must be regarded as still in a state of
transition. It has ceased to be a mere aggregate of colleges, but
it has not ceased to be essentially collegiate in many parts of its
organisation, and the dualism of the professorial and tutorial systems
has been perpetuated. Professorships have been freely created, but
attendance on their lectures has not been made obligatory, and it
has been found easier to provide them with salaries out of college
revenues than to provide them with audiences at the expense of college
lecturers. The number of necessary examinations has been increased,
and many obstacles have been thrown in the way of persistent idleness;
but the door of the University has not been closed against complete
ignorance by an effective entrance examination, and a dunce ignorant
of his letters may still matriculate and reside, if he can find a
college to admit him. The student is free to choose his Final School,
and, unless he chooses the Classical School, he may abandon Latin
and Greek, in any case, after Moderations. But a minimum proficiency
in these languages is still necessary for Responsions as well as for
Moderations, several alternatives for which have been offered with an
utter disregard of symmetry or equality between studies. Women have
been admitted to certain University examinations, but not to all, nor
on the same terms as men; and the names of those who obtain honours are
published in a class-list, but not the ordinary class-list. Religious
equality has been established for most purposes, but not for all, and
the Faculty of Theology maintains its exclusive connection not only
with the Anglican Church but with the Anglican clergy. Such are some of
the anomalies which have been left to adjust themselves by successive
commissions and successive groups of University legislators. They have
not proved inconsistent with a vigorous internal life, but while they
exist and continue to be multiplied, the University cannot be said to
have attained a state of stable equilibrium, nor can a poetical unity
be imparted to an historical narrative of recent University reforms.