Higher Commercial Education and the University of London

Abstract

OUR knowledge of what is needed for the improvement of commercial education has undoubtedly been amplified and better defined by the action of the London Chamber of Commerce and of the Technical Education Board of the London County Council. The important conference held in June last at the Guildhall settled certain points beyond further controversy, and cleared the way for a new departure in those directions in which improvement is practicable and possible. The “Summary of Results” published by the Chamber will serve as a useful guide to educational authorities desirous of adapting school teaching to the requirements of our mercantile classes. The special Committee, appointed in May 1897 by the Technical Education Board, were actively engaged during the greater part of the year 1898 in taking evidence from merchants, bankers, teachers, and organisers of commercial classes, and their valuable report, recently published, gives some interesting extracts from the evidence of the expert witnesses they consulted, together with their own conclusions and recommendations. The report also contains a summary of the notices, previously published in various other reports, of the facilities provided in foreign countries for commercial education of different grades.