ENGINEERING AND SCIENCES EXTENSION IN THE TRANSITIONAL DECADE

The trend toward extremely advanced professional courses has been partieularly noticeable in the fields of mathematics, electronics, engineering, and other space-related sciences. Programing in engineering and sciences extension, north, produced rapid increases in enrollments with more than 8,000 registrations in 1961-62. Class enrollment in this department is now leveling off. This trend is consistent with the mounting selectivity exercised by extension and its new stress on structuring programs for the more highly qualified.

Engineering extension, south, however, reflects a growth pattern indigenous to the professional expansion of that particular area. Although 75 percent of its clientele have at least one degree in engineering, mathematics, or science, the number of adult students had almost tripled within the past decade to reach a total of 13,180 by 1960. The trend toward classes and short courses is indicative of the constantly higher postprofessional demands placed upon graduate engineers. The statewide lecture series on "Space Technology" was attended by 4,200 students in five locations, and the resultant film has been viewed by 100,000 persons who were not able to attend the series.

Another marked trend in statewide extension shows up clearly in engineering and sciences. Increased awareness by Federal agencies of extension's usefulness in mounting national educational programs has stimulated a variety of contracts with such agencies as the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geodetic Survey, the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Office of Naval Research.

These federally aided programs have added a new dimension, as well as new responsibilities, to the original land-grant college concept of service to the State and Nation.

To conclude this report of the changes and new directions that have emerged in a decade of marked transition, it is obvious that the growth and expansion of University of California extension have been both intensive and swift, if we measure 10 years against the entire chronicle of adult education. No comparable period exists, in terms of intellectual ferment or advancement. The changes have been in kind and in degree, although the growth of university extension does not directly parallel California's population explosion. Rather than accepting the gross demographic increment, extension has set new open-end goals. It has evolved new teaching methods, and it already is serving a totally new clientele. It has pioneered new paths to bring the university to the communities of the State; and this, in turn, has engendered a new respect for education for education's sake. Although the American fixation in favor or credit courses still operates as a pragmatic seal of approval which regards anything not bearing credit as somehow second rate, the percentage of noncredit offerings rose most significantly over the decade.

In this incomplete recital of program highlights over the past decade we have selected from many pages of departmental reports only a few examples. There is pride of achievement reflected in these notes and professional satisfaction with and many of the outcomes. But, embedded among all those who work for and with University of California extension is the acute awareness that its programing should not only be of a standard equal to that provided for the resident student but, in some cases, better. Lifelong learning, in this age when we are all awash in a pool of expanding knowledge that deepens constantly, demands the utmost of each of us. It must strive to be increasingly more advanced, more sophisticated, more original. We have tried to bend our thought to ways of breaking free from traditional concepts and curricula—and this decade of transition has seen only the beginning of the changes which must be anticipated. To these

we now turn.

PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE SET

In a field as fluid and dynamic as adult education is today, it is somewhat hazardous to follow the precedent established in the last 10-year report and project growth patterns of university extension for the decade ahead. Certain economic and social imperatives intrinsic to our national health make it easier to predict the trends of continuing education throughout the country. The adjustments already foreseen will demand indefatigable efforts to provide lifelong learningin more quantity and quality and without delay. The next 10 years of extension,

Much, of course, will depend on the level of fiscal support for University of California extension yet to be determined by recommendation of the coordinating council for higher eduction and action of the State legislature. There is still another financial variable: change may result from one or more of the pending proposals in the National Congress for an expansion of Federal support to adult education. Certainly such assistance to university adult education would mean a rapid expansion of service, particularly to those population segments now excluded by high fees and expense-account financing. The expectation of support, moreover, is justified by experience with Federal aid to the Cooperative Extension Service through the Department of Agriculture and to vocational education through the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Once the fiscal problem is resolved in university extension, several well-defined trends and probable developments are indicated for the decade ahead.

I. The shift to postgraduate offerings with less emphasis on parallel degree credit courses is likely to accelerate. The phenomenon of advancing professionalism is now such a firmly rooted feature of university adult education that its future growth is well recognized.

II. There will be an increase in the number-and in the nature of sequential programs in the liberal arts which involve new formats and new combinations of subject matter. While the economic base for programing in the arts and humanities is less secure, the growing leisure in which to pursue intellectual activities is a motivating force. There will be mounting pressure on the individual to discharge more adequately his public responsibilities as an informed citizen. III. The curriculum of degree credit courses at either the graduate or undergraduate levels, is not likely to expand at the University of California. In this instance, California probably will leave to other institutions the development of special degree programs such as those in extension studies and the bachelor of liberal studies at Harvard and Oklahoma, respectively, or the master in liberal arts at Johns Hopkins. These programs already are well developed by universities with favorable climates for this type of pioneer venture. As of this date, it would appear that a nondegree, certificate-type, advanced program in the liberal arts might be a possibility if underwriting and faculty support can be secured. Because of the national trend and the university's leadership position in education, such a program-designed primarily for the man and woman who already have graduated from college-should be on the drawing boards soon.

IV. It is probable that the trend toward decentralization of extension administration to the campus level will continue. As a consequence of this, statewide extension coordinating machinery and policy functions must become increasingly adaptive and sensitized to varying campus requirements. In the next decade there will be great demands upon extension (1) to implement programs desired by the chief campus officers on the new and developing campuses of the university, (2) to further extend its role as a bridge to the community, and (3) to serve the entire State by making its resources available wherever and whenever needed. The unifying influence of University of California extension as an arm of the statewide university will be needed increasingly as the many campuses develop their individual strengths and characteristics. In its effort to implement campus objectives more effectively, university extension must not lose its identity and its capacity to serve statewide needs. The present area organization has worked well.

V. The phenomenal growth of university extension over the past decade has begun to abate in recent years with the proliferation of State and junior colleges whose expanded offerings for the part-time student supplant many former extension services. This has led to a strengthening of faculty-extension relationships; the change, however, stemmed largely from individual awareness on the part of faculty members of extension's unique function and its significance to various publics.

The time-tested liaison appointment probably will continue to be the most practicable device for insuring faculty participation in and academic control of extension offerings. Certainly as resident enrollments and full-time faculty multiply, there will be even greater need for assigning major liaison responsibility to a single faculty member in each department.