In order to encourage an interest in world affairs among the students and to provide. opportunities for a full discussion on the important issues of the day, the National Union of Students has organized the British Student Congress. The congress itself will be concerned with the question of the rôle of the universi and the students in the present world situation.
But the importance of the congress lies equally in the preparatory work in the universities. In order that the congress shall be as fully representative of student opinion as possible and in order to draw into the preparatory discussions students holding very different opinions, the National Union of Students invited the other main national student organizations to assist in the work of the congress. It will therefore be held in consultation with the Student Christian Movement, the International Student Service and the British Universities League of Nations Society, as well as the three political organizations.
This ce-operation has meant that the preparatory work for the congress has covered a very wide field. In most of the universities and colleges, committees have been set up representative of the student unions as well as of the more important university societies. These committes have organized preliminary discussions for the congress, covering as large a number of students as possible.
The work for the congress is an experiment in education for democracy, It is run by students for students and is affecting in an organized way far larger numbers than has ever previously been achieved. It provides as good a case as possible for the maintenance of the universities during the war.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.