The Department of University Extension has begun its first year of work with an enrollment of 530. The demand for outside courses given by Harvard professors and instructors was met in the past partly by the Lowell Institute courses and partly by the Saturday afternoon courses for teachers. On account of the great increase in the demand for this type of instruction a committee was appointed last year to investigate and find means for meeting the increased demand for these courses which recommended in its report that co-operation between the institutions of learning in and about Boston be tried, as more extensive work could not be undertaken by the University alone. A federation was organized, composed of the following institutions: Harvard University, Tufts College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston College, Boston University, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Wellesley College, Simmons College. Professor J. H. Ropes '89 was appointed dean.

The officers of the federation are offering a carefully prepared general scheme of courses, taking the Lowell Institute and the Summer School courses as a nucleus. The courses are given primarily for teachers or other persons engaged in advanced work, but will be, in so far as possible, conducted like the parallel ones which are given in the various institutions, and a collegiate grade will be maintained throughout. The special degree of Associate of Arts will be given by the institution in which the greater part of the work is done. Part of the courses are being maintained by the fund of the Lowell Institute and for these a fee of $5 is charged; for the other courses the fee is larger.

Twenty courses are being given in English, Psychology, Economics, German, French, History, and Sciences. The most popular courses are the English course given by Professor Copeland and Mr. F. W. C. Hersey '99, in which the enrollment is 193 and the course in Economics given by Professor H. C. Metcalf '94, of Tufts College, in which the enrollment is 109.