Francis Sedgemore, a sometime visitor to HP, Space engineer, and renaissance man has finally got round to creating a blog of his own, here.
Make a point of reading his article over at CiF today, which considers the precarious state of science education.
The market needs a core of top-class scientists and engineers, but in the real world, cream floats on the top of a much larger mass of fluid. British universities are producing plenty of science and engineering graduates and postgraduates, many of whom end up working in fields that don’t require their expertise. Unless graduates can find suitable and rewarding work that makes use of their talents and skills, why should they bother studying science to degree level, especially when they must now pay significant sums in tuition fees, and for subsistence, during their university courses?
This all sounds very familiar. My father – who worked as a lecturer in chemistry – used to observe ruefully that all his best graduates had become accountants and management consultants.
