University of Canterbury Capping Magazine cover from 1965.
The University in the City?
20 November 2023
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From the College’s small beginning in 1873 with just 87 students, Canterbury University had grown to have a roll of 2534 students in 1948. The increased demands on space and resources had taken their toll, both on the buildings and the staff. The School of Engineering was for example heavily overcrowded. In a report to Council in 1945 Head of Engineering Professor Powell noted that the Hydraulics Lab was in two parts at the opposite end of a building, electronics was separate from the electrical engineering lab, and the heat engines laboratory plant was scattered through four separate rooms. Congestion was so bad that by 1958 one engineering class had to be repeated 5 times to accommodate all the students.
The creation of new departments, as the areas of academic study widened, added to the space challenges. The Geography Department was founded in 1936, with George Jobberns as the inaugural full time lecturer in charge. However, there was no room available at College, so Geography was placed in leased lecture space at Canterbury Public Library. Even when the Department was accommodated on the town site, it was in temporary pre-fabricated buildings. Council found at the time that it was "impossible to provide adequate accommodation within the College.”
University of Canterbury Capping Magazine cover from 1965.
George Jobberns' hopeful plans for a new Geography Department building, perhaps conceived with the vision that it would be sponsored by those after whom the rooms were named.
The University’s administration believed overcrowding would only get worse as student numbers looked likely to rise, so the search began for alternative options. Development of the city block to the north of Worcester Street, or transfer to the site that eventually became Burnside High School was considered. It was however to be the site in Ilam between Ilam and Clyde Roads that would take hold, and an official announcement of the intention to move part, if not the whole, of the University to the new site was made in 1949.
The announcement caused great debate. Some, notably the Engineers, were in wholehearted agreement with the idea of relocation, while others were vehemently opposed. Concerns were raised about the long term effects of the move. Detractors suggested that it might disadvantage students who would have to travel to reach campus, and most importantly, they believed that this would result in a loss of connection with the local community.
Geographer George Jobberns was debating the point right up into the 1950s, when he gave a public lecture on The University in the City at which he stated “… largely because of its location within the City, the College has been able to develop an intimate association with and service to the City. This relation between college and city is something very special and significant for Christchurch; the City should see this and simply not let the College be lifted out of it.” The die was however, cast, and the move to Ilam began officially in 1957.
George Jobberns' text for his lecture What is wrong with the present site of Canterbury College?, 1953.
