TABLE 6.-Objectives of land-grant institutions in offering courses in commerce and business to meet the needs of students and of business and the length of their training programs

In so far as these results are concerned it must be concluded that land-grant institutions in general think that the needs for higher business education require a training program four years in length. While some of them provide training programs of less than four years they are the exceptions. As has been indicated earlier, the needs for business training involve several levels. The land-grant institutions should provide instruction on these various levels. They have apparently concentrated their attention on the higher levels and neglected the intermediate levels. If land-grant institutions are to conform to the Morrill Act, namely, to educate the industrial classes, they must adjust their programs to the needs. They must not only provide business training giving a functional back-· ground and assuring better understanding of relationship between business and the community, but they must also provide instruction for routine and minor executive work for students upon intermediate levels.

Still another way to discover the needs for education beyond postsecondary-school levels is to study the records of land-grant institutions as to their actual placement of graduates and nongraduates. The land-grant institutions were asked to state the number of students placed with business and industrial firms from 1925 to 1928. The results of this question are indicated in Table 7. Only one or two observations need be made upon this table. While there are two or three institutions attempting to place nongraduates, landgrant institutions as a whole are doing little or nothing to place them. They evidently are interested only in graduates. While the placement of graduates is decidedly important, the placement of nongraduates may well be given considerable attention,

With respect to students graduating with bachelor degrees landgrant institutions make a good showing. In filling out this part of the questionnaire it was suggested that the institutions might use estimates. Careful study of the table concerning students with a bachelor's degree will show the extent to which graduates have been placed in the various fields of business.

TABLE 7.-Number of students placed with business and industrial firms from 1925 to 1928 by land-grant institutions

Manufacturing, professional activities,

real estate and insurance, retailing, and banking and brokerage have taken the greatest number of graduates in the largest number of institutions. Farming has scarcely taken any; transportation has taken very few.

The land-grant institutions need to make more studies like the study of public utilities made by Dean C. O. Ruggles and his committee for the National Electric Light Association. Dean Ruggles and his committee devoted themselves to the discovery of the needs of business education in the field of public-service corporations. It might be worth while to quote a summary of the findings.

A very large majority of the utility companies stated that they have had success with college men and a very large majority also stated that the opportunities are sufficiently attractive to warrant college men to prepare themselves for work in the field. Utility executives pointed out some of the deficiencies of college graduates and made some suggestions for the improvement of collegiate education.

The facts submitted show that an increasing number of the graduates of both schools of business and schools of engineering are entering the field of

public utilities; also that even in the field of engineering there is a striking decrease in the number of graduates taking employment with the railroads. These statistics verify the conclusions reached in the Yale Survey on Transportation. The results of the survey show that the demand is not only for graduates of engineering schools but that the need for nonengineering graduates is becoming a very important factor. Indeed the facts reported by the parent companies which submitted data on this phase of the survey show that the greatest number of college men employed by them in 1927 were nonengineering graduates.

Aside from the telephone industry, the utility companies are apparently not visiting colleges to participate in conferences on vocational guidance, or to recruit employees to the same extent that representatives of other industries appear to be doing. It is the opinion of a number of educators and of some utility executives that a large number of the best men of the graduating classes are secured by the industries that have carefully worked out plans for recruiting and who visit the colleges early in the last half of the college year.

The data returned by the utility industry do not indicate that many employees of utility companies, whether graduates of colleges or noncollege men, are taking courses with local educational institutions. Only a decided minority of the utility companies reported that their employees are taking such courses. However, a large majority of the companies did indicate an interest in having such courses available to their employees.❜

In this survey Dean Ruggles and his associates made a study of the placement of college graduates based on returns from 10 schools of business in 1925 and 11 schools in 1926 and 1927. Their results are shown in Table 8.

TABLE 8.-Fields of activity entered by graduates of schools of business

Public utilities, a survey of the extent of instruction in public utilities in colleges and universities, of the industry's interest in college graduates, and of willingness and ability of utilities to cooperate with higher educational institutions. C. O. Ruggles, director of survey (National Electric Light Association).

They also made a study of the placement of college graduates based on returns from 21 colleges of engineering in 1925 and 22 colleges 1926 and 1927. The results are shown in Table 9.

TABLE 9.-Fields of activity entered by graduates of engineering colleges

This survey of public-utility education is in sharp contrast to the Yale survey on transportation. The Yale survey found that railroad executives were not interested in employing college graduates, and that there was not adequate cooperation between higher educational institutions and railway industries either in instruction or research. On the basis of this survey, Yale revised its entire course of study in the field of transportation. Land-grant institutions, so far as the questionnaire reveals, have not attempted at all any such surveys of specific fields.

Finally, land-grant colleges and universities have failed to make studies of the advantages and disadvantages of cooperative part-time business training and business experience for students in commerce and business. The following questions were asked each of the landgrant institutions offering courses in commerce and business. The questions and replies are set forth in Table 10.

TABLE 10.-Answers to questionnaire sent to land-grant institutions offering courses in commerce and business

If "No," is business experience advised or recommended for commerce and business students?.

Has your institution taken the initiative in explaining the cooperative part-time training plan to business firms and associations?.

Do you require for graduation business experience of commercial and business students?.

Has your institution taken the initiative in explaining the plan to the students?. Has your institution made a study of the desires of the students regarding cooperative part-time training?..

Have business firms or associations taken the initiative in expressing a desire to try out the cooperative part-time plan?.

Have you made a survey among business firms and associations to learn of their desire to participate in cooperative part-time training in commerce and business?..

The answers in this table are extremely interesting. Only three institutions require business experience for graduation. These are Ohio State University, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, and Iowa State College. Ohio State University does not give credit. Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College requires business experience, but does not indicate whether credit is given or not. Iowa State College requires business experience in farm management only, but does not indicate whether credit therefor is given or not. The other 37 institutions replying have done nothing in this respect. Eleven institutions do not advise or recommend 'business experience for commerce and business students. Eighteen institutions do advise such experience. It is not intended to argue that the case for requiring business experience for commerce and business students has been proved. Much investigation is needed before valid conclusions can be drawn. The point is that land-grant institutions apparently are not interested in this problem and are doing little to discover facts that would have a bearing on its solution.

The situation is very much the same with regard to the cooperative part-time training plan. Such training required great effort. The administrative aspects are complex. Not only must firms be willing to cooperate and offer employment for students, but the intervals of work must be arranged to fit the needs of the enterprises. On the institutional side, courses must be scheduled so that the student will attend school for one period and follow his employment for another. This alternation between study and work is difficult of arrangement and still more difficult to administer after arrangements have been made. None of the land-grant institutions reporting has tried the cooperative part-time plan.

Four institutions have taken the initiative in explaining it to business firms and associations while 29 have not. Only three institutions have taken the initiative in explaining it to the students. Three institutions have made studies