The conduct of the Instruction covered by the agreement is entrusted to the President of the Institute--in whose selection the President of the University is to have a consultative voice-- and to the Faculty to the Institute, consisting of all the joint professors and all others teaching at Technology subjects not included in the co-operation. This Faculty is to regulate, according to the directions given to it by the respective corporations, the courses of instruction leading to their separate degrees; and conceivably the two institutions might prescribe different requirements, although no such divergence is contemplated.

Finally, to avoid possible legal doubts of the power to make such a contract, a provision is inserted for termination by either party thereto. But it is needless to say that neither side would have entered into the agreement unless convinced that it would prove beneficial and lasting.

Efficiency Gained by Co-operation.

By this co-operation both institutions gain. No discussion took place on the question which gains the most; nor would such a computation be profitable, for the leading motive on both sides was the benefit of the public, by serving better the cause of technical training and research. Waste of resources and of effort by needless rivalry of institutions of higher education, sometimes in cases where both are supported by public funds drawn from the same tax-payers, and are under the control of the same State, has been a lamentable evil in our country. That Harvard and Technology should have found the path to co-operation will not only result in a stronger engineering school than either could maintain alone, but may well encourage men elsewhere who feel that all educational ambitions ought to be subordinated to ends they serve. The growth of such a sentiment, which has marked these negotiations and the public discussion that has followed, has rendered possible the agreement we have made.

The first interest of both institutions, as well as of the community at large, is that the arrangement made should work efficiently and without friction, and the organization devised seems well adapted to the object. While a dual control in some form is an obvious necessity of the case, it is important that the direct administration should be unified as much as possible, and responsible for the whole work carried on. For this purpose a single officer, the President of the Institute, is made the executive head for the combined instruction. He must consult both corporations about the appointment of all important instructors in the common departments, and must report annually to both. In short, he must show his hand to both, is responsible to both, must work in harmony with both, must have the confidence of both, and will lay out the whole plan for both. Moreover, the President of the University taken a consultative part in his selection. This has two merits from the point of view of smooth administration, for it makes doubly sure that a satisfactory selection will be made, and it goes far to bind the President of Harvard to support him. Confidence in the great ability of the present head of the Institute counted for much in the formation of the agreement.

Administration to be Unified.

Then, again, there is a manifest advantage in having a single faculty administering all the instruction at the institute. Much of what is not comprised directly in the subjects of co-operation is, like mathematiacs, physics and chemistry, closely related to them; and to have a separate faculty consisting of the joint professors, distinct from the faculty that regulates certain preliminary studies, would clearly disturb the unity of work, and would also tend to draw a sharp line between the teachers who are Harvard professors and those who are not. So far as possible such a line is avoided. All the professors giving instruction in the common subjects enjoy the rights and privileges of professors in both institutions; they are to be paid through one disbursing agent and except so far as they hold named professorships, they may in time be unaware of the source of their salaries. All their pupils also, unless signifying a contrary intention, are students in both. In short, the direct administration of the whole school is unified, and the interests of the two institutions in the teaching of engineering and mining are made identical.

Something must be said about the Harvard conception of a school of engineering particularly adapted to college graduates, and the danger of its disappearance in the co-operation. No doubt our Graduate Schools of Applied Science were based on the belief that graduates of colleges, who have mastered their mathematics, physics, and chemistry, require a somewhat different course from boys who study engineering immediately after leaving the high school. But it must be observed that the college graduates at the Institute of Technology have increased rapidly of late years, now out-numbering those in our School. The Institute is as anxious as we are to encourage them, and give them the education best suited to their capacity. The number of such graduates after the co-operation will certainly be large enough to be dealt with as a group if that is wise, and it would not require much change in the four-year programme of the Institute to adapt the third and fourth years, or a part of the courses therein, more completely to men who have been through a college. This matter may be safely left in the hands of the Faculty, where our professors will exert an influence in proportion to the weight of their opinions.

The changes that have occurred during the past year have required explanation at such length as to prevent the inclusion in this report of a reference to many departments of the University not less important, even if of less general interest. For these attention must be called to the reports of the Deans, Directors, and Curators respectfully submitted herewith.