MANY of you will have seen the recent call from the CBI to reverse the decline in the so-called Stem subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) within our educational system.
The call could not come at a more appropriate time, given that the statistics on this issue make stark reading. For example, the number of students undertaking physics A-level has fallen from 54,722 to 23,657 during the past 20 years, while chemistry has also seen a dramatic decline.
Given this, it not surprising that universities across the UK have been closing departments in these subject areas at a record pace, putting the scientific base of this country at risk. Yet the connection between supply and demand has widened, and data from the CBI’s own surveys shows that there will be a demand from industry for more than 750,000 new jobs in Stem subjects during the next seven years.
In order to deal with this mounting problem, the CBI has proposed that the brightest children should be encouraged into separate physics, chemistry and biology GCSE courses, and there needs to be better resources to promote careers in science and technology.
It also wants increased spending on better equipped school laboratories, incentives to recruit specialist science teachers and, most significantly, bursaries to attract students to undertake Stem courses at universities.
Naturally, as a physics graduate, I would be expected to wholeheartedly endorse these proposals.
However, as an economic commentator, I would say they are crucial in ensuring that Wales transforms itself into a high skill knowledge-based economy of the 21st century.
However, it must be noted that Wales has had responsibility for its own science and educational policy for the past eight years and, to be blunt, almost nothing has been done to ensure that we could do better than our English neighbours in this vital area.
While hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent on innovation policy, very little of this has been spent to meet some of the concerns of the CBI, such as equipping science laboratories and encouraging greater student participation in Stem subjects.
Now we have a further £1.3bn of European funding available, much of which should be spent on improving the knowledge capacity of the poorest parts of our nation, I again urge the Assembly Government, along with our university sector, to use a substantial part of this money to boost the number of science and engineering graduates in Wales.
For example, providing a decent bursary scheme over the lifetime of the programme would cost around £30m. Ensuring those students would then complete a specialist master’s course in science and engineering would cost a further £20m.
Therefore for £50m, we could ensure that Wales has more than 3,000 highly skilled graduates emerging to work in the industries of the future at a cost that represents less than 10% of the total amount of European funding available for skill development.
Such a proposal would also enable universities to recruit academics in these areas and give Wales a competitive advantage in science and engineering which would be as good, if not better, than any UK region.
Businesses should play a far greater role in the life of universities and schools by encouraging better links between industry and academia. One way of doing this is to provide greater placement opportunities to students to ensure they can learn practical skills to complement their academic knowledge.
They can also ensure that the courses they teach are directly relevant to a fast changing global technological environment.
Indeed, only last week I had lunch with the chief executive of one of Europe’s most innovative companies and his major complaint against his local Welsh university was that the academics had little idea of how high technology businesses work and, worse still, had little interest in such matters.
Devolution gave Wales the opportunity to be different to the other regions of the UK and it is about time we took advantage of that opportunity.
If we are to transform ourselves into a knowledge-based economy, let’s start with changing our science and education policy so that we emulate the best in the world and are not also-rans in the race for global competitiveness.
The call could not come at a more appropriate time, given that the statistics on this issue make stark reading. For example, the number of students undertaking physics A-level has fallen from 54,722 to 23,657 during the past 20 years, while chemistry has also seen a dramatic decline.
Given this, it not surprising that universities across the UK have been closing departments in these subject areas at a record pace, putting the scientific base of this country at risk. Yet the connection between supply and demand has widened, and data from the CBI’s own surveys shows that there will be a demand from industry for more than 750,000 new jobs in Stem subjects during the next seven years.
In order to deal with this mounting problem, the CBI has proposed that the brightest children should be encouraged into separate physics, chemistry and biology GCSE courses, and there needs to be better resources to promote careers in science and technology.
It also wants increased spending on better equipped school laboratories, incentives to recruit specialist science teachers and, most significantly, bursaries to attract students to undertake Stem courses at universities.
Naturally, as a physics graduate, I would be expected to wholeheartedly endorse these proposals.
However, as an economic commentator, I would say they are crucial in ensuring that Wales transforms itself into a high skill knowledge-based economy of the 21st century.
However, it must be noted that Wales has had responsibility for its own science and educational policy for the past eight years and, to be blunt, almost nothing has been done to ensure that we could do better than our English neighbours in this vital area.
While hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent on innovation policy, very little of this has been spent to meet some of the concerns of the CBI, such as equipping science laboratories and encouraging greater student participation in Stem subjects.
Now we have a further £1.3bn of European funding available, much of which should be spent on improving the knowledge capacity of the poorest parts of our nation, I again urge the Assembly Government, along with our university sector, to use a substantial part of this money to boost the number of science and engineering graduates in Wales.
For example, providing a decent bursary scheme over the lifetime of the programme would cost around £30m. Ensuring those students would then complete a specialist master’s course in science and engineering would cost a further £20m.
Therefore for £50m, we could ensure that Wales has more than 3,000 highly skilled graduates emerging to work in the industries of the future at a cost that represents less than 10% of the total amount of European funding available for skill development.
Such a proposal would also enable universities to recruit academics in these areas and give Wales a competitive advantage in science and engineering which would be as good, if not better, than any UK region.
Businesses should play a far greater role in the life of universities and schools by encouraging better links between industry and academia. One way of doing this is to provide greater placement opportunities to students to ensure they can learn practical skills to complement their academic knowledge.
They can also ensure that the courses they teach are directly relevant to a fast changing global technological environment.
Indeed, only last week I had lunch with the chief executive of one of Europe’s most innovative companies and his major complaint against his local Welsh university was that the academics had little idea of how high technology businesses work and, worse still, had little interest in such matters.
Devolution gave Wales the opportunity to be different to the other regions of the UK and it is about time we took advantage of that opportunity.
If we are to transform ourselves into a knowledge-based economy, let’s start with changing our science and education policy so that we emulate the best in the world and are not also-rans in the race for global competitiveness.
Comments
It has always been the poor cousin of the arts which is so different to Scotland with its wealth of historical scientists.
There are a few world famous scientists born in Wales but I can't think of any who did their research in Wales.
It does seem that the best thing a potential Welsh scientist can do is to leave, get rich, and then be a poster boy for the brain drain!