HIGHER EDUCATION.
In the field of university education no changes, administrative or instructional, are recorded for the past biennium; but there has been a certain amount of dissatisfaction with the administrative government of the University of Montevideo. In September, 1918, the executive sent to the Congress, along with an accompanying message, the project of a law clearly defining the constitution of the directive councils of the several faculties of the University of Montevideo as established by the laws of 1908 and 1915. Contention had arisen as to the right of electing representatives to each of these councils. By the new law each such council was to have 10 members and a dean. In the faculty of law four of these were to be elected by the attorneys who were also professors; four attorneys to be selected by those neither professors nor substitutes; one minor attorney by those neither professors nor substitutes; one student delegate by the students themselves.
In the faculty of medicine four members were to be elected by the professors, substitutes, and chiefs of clinics and laboratories; three members to be elected by the physicians not embraced in the above categories; one member to be elected by the pharmacists; and one by the dentists not included in the categories above; one member to be elected by the students of medicine, pharmacy, and dentistry.
In the faculty of engineering four members were to be elected by the professors and substitutes; three members to be elected by the engineers; and two by the surveyors who were neither professors nor substitutes; one member to be elected by the students of engineering and surveying.
In the faculty of architecture five members were to be elected by the professors and substitutes; four members to be elected by architects who were neither professors nor substitutes; one member to be elected by the students of architecture.
By decrees of 1917 enacted into law, seven years of advanced courses were required for the degree of doctor of medicine and five years for the degree of architect. Special courses of one and two years in construction and materials, leading to certificates but not to degrees, were formulated and allowed by the ministry of public instruction.
In pursuance of the policy of exchanging professors between the various countries of South America formulated at the Pan American Conference held at Buenos Aires in 1910, special exchange was arranged with Chile in 1916.