Abstract
THE Second Annual Report of the City and Guilds of London Institute for the Advancement of Technical Education is one of great interest. It enables us, for one thing, to see what progress has been made since the issue of the first Report. There can be no doubt that, during the short period that this Institute has been in existence, it has begun effective work on a plan which will commend itself to and command the confidence of those interested in education. The movement has been started with vigour, and very soon we shall probably have a widespread system of technical schools all over the country. In London the City schools belonging to the Institute have been eminently successful, to judge from the increasing attendance, especially upon the physical and chemical classes of Professors Ayrton and Armstrong, The classes of Prof. Ayrton on “Electric Lighting and Transmission of Power” and “Electrical Instrument Making” have been so well attended that it has been necessary to make arrangements for providing additional tutorial assistance, in order that his students might receive the individual attention they require. During the past session, 551 tickets of admission to the evening classes on Technical Physics have been sold, showing a considerable increase on the attendance last year. Dr. Armstrong, Professor of Technical Chemistry, has given special instruction in the subjects of “Coal Tar Distilling” and “Spirit Rectification.” The number of tickets sold has been 265. Considerable progress has been made in providing suitable new buildings for these schools, and in adding additional means of instruction and practical laboratory work. Professors Ayrton and Armstrong have been inspecting some of the best technical schools on the Continent, with a view to assist them in organising the institutions in London. Last summer, moreover, the foundation of the great Central College was laid by the Prince of Wales, who is now President of the Institute, at South Kensington, and its construction is being actively proceeded with. In this college, as the Lord Chancellor stated on that occasion, from which the entire work of the Institute will be directed, instruction of a higher and more advanced character will be given, adapted to the wants of those who will be engaged in professional or commercial pursuits, in which a knowledge of some branch of mechanics, physics, or chemistry, in its practical applications, will be found, not only serviceable, but almost indispensable. The building, when completed, will be supplied with laboratories in which the most delicate operations may be carried on; with workshops in which the various branches of mechanical and electrical engineering will be taught; with studios in which applied art may be practised, and with lecture-theatres, and class-rooms in which the principles of science will be explained.
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Technical Education . Nature 25, 477–478 (1882). https://doi.org/10.1038/025477a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/025477a0