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RELEASE

Around 12 per cent of graduates presently leave university with a science, engineering and technology degree and this needs to rise to at least 25 per cent if the UK is to match the predicted growth in jobs.

It is a tough challenge but must be met if the UK is to maintain its world-leading position in industries like pharmaceuticals, aerospace and bio-technology, the CBI said.

A failure to do so would undermine the ability of the UK to compete with other countries in the global economy and companies might be forced to relocate to areas with a ready supply of employees with these skills.

The business group has identified four weaknesses that are holding back the flow of students into university science courses:

• Poor science laboratories in schools - with one in four unsafe or inadequate according to the Royal Society of Chemistry, and four in ten basic and uninspiring.
• A lack of teachers with specialist knowledge to teach GCSE and A level science - a quarter of secondary schools do not have a specialist physics teacher, for example.
• A stripped-down curriculum which does not devote sufficient time to science - only one in five state schools offers separate GCSEs in physics, chemistry and biology and too few students step up to study science at A Level.
• Poor careers advice which fails to stimulate young people's interest in the well-paid and cutting edge careers available in science and engineering.

Based on figures from the Institute of Employment Research on expected growth in SET jobs by 2014, the CBI has calculated that this would need to jump to 97,000 a year just to fill new positions.

And this calculation is based on every graduate pursing their vocational career rather than, for example, a job in financial services which many currently choose to do.

In 2005 the Government pledged to spend £200million improving science facilities in schools but although the money has been allocated it remains unspent.

John Cridland, CBI Deputy Director-General, said: "Britain has a world class science base and many world-beating companies but we must build on these strengths, not allow them to wither on the vine.

"Our future success will depend on our ability to compete not only with our traditional international rivals but new ones too, particularly India and China. These two emerging giants are producing hundreds of thousands of engineers and scientists a year, all ready to fight for a slice of the pie in business sectors which the UK has traditionally done so well in.

"If we are to meet their challenge head-on, and take advantage of the opportunities their growing economies provide, we need to ensure our education system can give young people the skills they need.

"This means modern laboratories where pupils can enjoy the fun, hands-on aspects of science under the tuition of teachers with the specialist knowlege to give them the depth of knowledge and inspiration they need.

"In 2005 the Government announced a £200m fund to equip schools with modern science facilities but today that money is still sitting in a bank account. At a time when one in four labs are unsafe or unsatisfactory, and four in ten rated as basic and uninspiring, this is a disgrace.

"If we don't step up to the plate then the companies which have helped build up the UK's science base will be faced with no alternative but to go overseas. They are increasingly recruiting from abroad and the danger is they may relocate altogether."

The CBI is the UK's leading business organisation, speaking for some 240,000 businesses that together employ around a third of the private sector workforce. Member companies, which decide all policy positions, include:
- 80 of the FTSE 100
- some 200,000 small and medium-size firms
- more than 20,000 manufacturers
- over 150 sectoral associations.

CBI press office 020 7395 8239, out-of-hours pager 07623 977 854