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It's Not Rocket Science ...
Excerpt: The Guardian reports today that the CBI is criticising the Government and the Education Sector for the falling numbers of science graduates from British Universities.
The Guardian reports today that the CBI is criticising the Government and the Education Sector for the falling numbers of science graduates from British Universities.
Perhaps the CBI ought to examine the plank in its own eye. Science graduates quite clearly are not stupid; nor are teenagers picking GCSE and A-Level subjects. They can "do the math" well enough to work out that a poorly paid career in science or engineering is a less attractive option than one in the City or a profession that will earn them many times more. And I speak from experience on this issue.
If that question were addressed it would help to reverse the decline.
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Indeed. It is ironic that the CBI is so gung-ho about marketising the Higher Education Sector and yet cries foul at the very first hurdle.
Tabman
The complaint is about the declining number of graduates, rather than the number wanting to go into industry. The CBI's claims about the failure of the secondary curriculum are on the mark. I've seen a series of GCSE textbooks in recent months and they are indeed completely dumbed down. They are basically propaganda for the environmental movement. There is almost no hard science any more.
James
I don't understand what you're getting at. What has the posting got to do with marketisation of the HE sector?
Bishop - yes, they might be right about the curriculum. But surely you, as a market libertarian, must agree that if the market put a higher value on scientists, more people would clamour to become a scientist. This would create a much larger pool of qualified scientists, some of whom would be available to teach in our schools (at present too many physics classes are taught by biologists, chemists, or non-scientists). And we would have a virtuous circle for a while, rather than a vicious circle.
Now, the mystery to me is that as scientists are so scarce, why isn't that acting as a means to increase the wages of scientists?
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"Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures."
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
"Now, the mystery to me is that as scientists are so scarce, why isn't that acting as a means to increase the wages of scientists?"
That's no mystery. As the root article pointed out, scientists and engineers in general are not scarce, only the well educated British flavour. Companies can import foreign scientists, or move their laboritories abroad if the need arises: any upward pressure on wages is absorbed into the global economy.
I'm not convinced that the decline in the number of students taking science degress is explained entirely by low wages in science related jobs. There are plenty of degree subjects where directly related employment is rare and badly paid e.g. art, English, philosophy, geography, history. The reduction of science and engineering's popularity is equally as much down to a cultural shift in what's perceived to be important, from rationalism, progress and industry to sentamentalism, leasure and finance.
Tabman
You are right that companies could increase the supply of graduates by increasing remuneration. Whether it is economic to do this in the UK rather than invest in research facilities in cheaper countries is another matter. Presumably they would rather avoid the upheaval of moving abroad but retain this option as a fallback. As Martin points out though, much of the problem is one of what is considered a good industry to go into. The blame for the decline in Chemistry as a university subject can be laid pretty squarely at the feet of the environmental movement. Who wants to work for a "polluter"?