ABSTRACT
In 1895, both Oxford and Cambridge took the revolutionary step of admitting graduates of other universities to membership of their colleges without taking an entrance examination. The British universities were coming to the end of the first stage in the evolution of higher degrees. An earned mastership was available in most universities other than Oxford and Cambridge; this provided a goal for students wanting to take their studies beyond first degree level by a year or two. One major increase in the availability of funds for graduate students came in 1946 with a change in State Scholarships. In 1957 there were substantial changes in the provision of students’ grants. The committee’s recommendations that explicitly related to graduate education fell into two parts: those related to the numbers of graduate students and those concerned with the form and organization of their graduate studies.
