Book Reviews
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1961.tb00193.x |
| Date | 01 July 1961 |
| Published date | 01 July 1961 |
Book
Reviews
THE
OVERSEAS
STUDENT
IN
BRITAIN,
by A. S. Livingstone.
Manchester
Unioersity
Press,
Ig61;
pp.
xV+16g;
14S.
net.
THIs study covers a
much
wider field
than
we
are
led to assume from the title.
With the examination of the
current
and possible future trends of social welfare
training in Britain in relation to the needs
of
overseas students as his first
objective Mr. Livingstone has developed his work into acritical assessment of
the role of Britain as a suitable ground for training in general.
It
would perhaps be reasonable to assume
that
established courses
at
our
universities
and
technical institutions make
adequate
provision for these needs
in view
of
the continuing
and
increasing
demand
for places.
Mr.
Livingstone is
not
satisfied
that
this
approach
is an effective one particularly in the field of the
social sciences.
Much
of the content is not suitable for export unless the student
is capable of making his own appraisement,
and
to this end he sees a need for
better methods of pre-course selection
and
the follow-up ofsubsequent careers if
wastage of effort on the
part
of the tutor
and
disillusionment on the
part
of
the
student
are
to be avoided.
Training
in
any
case
cannot
be considered satis-
factory unless
due
consideration is given to the background of the student
and
to the conditions in which it will be applied in the future.
Special attention
must
be paid to the factors affecting the attitude of the
student.
They
vary considerably in their capacity for adjustment to a strange
environment:
"Not
all of them are as quick-witted as a senior
member
of the course, who when cornered in a Manchester public lavatory by some
teddy boys
with
a
demand
of two shillings for his release, acted
with
instinctive
bargaining power to have the sum reduced to one shilling."
If
we accept the necessity for special measures to
meet
the
training require-
ments of overseas students,
what
steps are to be
taken?
The
author
is well qualified to write on the subject
of
special courses
and
gives a full account of his experience
and
the lessons
learnt
from the course
with
which he is associated
at
Manchester Universitv.t General opinion on their
merit
is divided however
and
there is some
support
for 'overseas options' on
established courses as
an
alternative.
Astudy of this
nature
including a good measure of factual information could
be heavy reading
but
Mr.
Livingstone has succeeded in introducing a very
human
touch to his subject
and
argues his points clearly
and
without bias.
At a time when the provision of qualified staff for the rapidly developing
countries of Asia
and
Africa is in pressing need his work gives us a clear appre-
ciation
of
the special issues involved
and
the need for further research.
G.E.
F-S.
LAW
AND
JUSTICE
IN
BUGANDA,
by E. S. Haydon.
Butterworths'
AfricanLaw
Series
No.2, 1960;
pp.
xxxix+342;
47s. 6d.
THAT
one of the principal English firms
oflaw
publishers should decide to
launch
an African
Law
Series, consisting of full-length (and therefore full-price) text-
books, is indeed a sign of the times.
The
series
had
apropitious
start
with a
volume
of
essays by
Dr.
Antony Allott;
and
iffurther
evidence is required
ofthe
1Described in
].A.A.
Vol.
XIII,
No.2,
p. 105.
179
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