Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

726 Eric Trist
been fewer. Comprehensive data on faculty-student ratios were not obtainable.
The table below for psychology in the Federal Republic in 1963 may serve to
illustrate.39 If part-time faculty are counted at a half, the ratio is 1-70. Ratios of
over 1-100 have been quoted for several disciplines in some countries. Britain
is an exception. From 1938-1963 students and faculty in the social sciences
both increased fivefold;55 but until the recent expansion of the universities, the
British student population was small even by Western European standards.
Countries such as the Netherlands have managed a continuous expansion of
university facilities and the student body with uncommon ~ki11.3~
GERMANY (F.R.). Faculty-student ratio in psychology (1963)
Faculty full-time
Faculty part-time
1st degree and diploma students
Ph.D. candidates
3. The proportion of social science students to the total student body is also
increasing. In Belgium from 1957-8 to 1964-5 the percentage of law students
fell from 12.2 to 5.9, while that for economics, political science and administra-
tive studies rose from 18 to 26.K64 In France social science students are expected
to double between 1965 and 1970.48 In Britain the numbers graduating with an
‘honours degree’ in social science subjects increased from 2,835 in 1963 to
4,276 in 1966. In the technical colleges which form a reserve system of higher
education there were 9,784 students in social science disciplines in 1965 - 36 %
of first degree enrollments in economics and 42 % in sociology.6o A decade ago
most of these students would have been in technological subjects where uni-
versity places are not now always filled. These data reflect a change of interest in
the contemporary student generation.
4. An obstacle to the development of the social sciences in Western Europe
has been the retention of obsolete forms of faculty organization, often unchang-
ed since the 19th century. Social science disciplines are split up in Faculties of
Letters, Law or Philosophy, though Faculties of Political Economy are relative-
ly common and sometimes include Sociology. Sociology and political science
have not everywhere been recognized as independent disciplines, especially for
a first degree. Anthropology often appears in Faculties of Science - through a
historical basis in physical anthropology. Faculties of Science sometimes provide
the exclusive context for psychology. As a first degree must be taken within a
faculty many desirable combinations are impossible.
5. In the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands a first degree is a long
process - five or even six years. In France the elite passing through the ‘Grandes
Ecoles’ must be distinguished from the general student body for whom a first
degree in the social sciences of not too high a standard can be a chaotic experien-
ce. In Germany (F.R.) in 1963 50% of social science candidates for a first degree
failed the comprehensive examination.39 Within their faculty they could choose
any combination of subjects, but obtained little guidance. Opposite is the in-
tensive teaching of undergraduates in Britain where, however, until recently