Engineers welcome rise in A-level students taking science
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Engineers have welcomed another rise in the proportion of students taking maths and science A levels.
The number of maths entries, including further maths, rose by 7.4 per cent while physics increased by 6.1 per cent, chemistry by 9.2 per cent and biology by 7.2 per cent.
These increases were higher than the rise in the total number of A-level exams taken, meaning the proportion of students studying science and maths also rose for the second year running.
‘This is great news for British engineering and for the country as a whole, pointing towards a brighter future for the profession,’ said Stephen Tetlow, chief executive of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE).
‘The dearth of young people taking the science subjects needed for an engineering career has created a skills shortage that is holding this country back. It’s now crucial that the government puts measures in place to sustain this increase.’
Imran Kahn, director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), also welcomed the rise but warned against complacency, calling on the government to introduce compulsory maths study for over-16s.
‘Over the past five years we’ve seen a 40 per cent increase in the number of students studying maths and a nearly 20 per cent increase in those taking physics and chemistry, when the overall number of A-levels being taken has increased by just 7.7 per cent,’ he said.
‘However, we cannot get complacent. Despite physics breaking into the top 10 A-levels subjects this year, we’ve only just got back to 2002 levels in terms of entries.
‘An international comparison of 24 countries showed that England, Wales and Northern Ireland were the only ones in which fewer than 20 per cent of students study maths post-16. We desperately need to keep up the momentum.’
Click here to read why we shouldn’t get carried away with today’s A-level results on The Engineer’s blog.
Readers' comments (2)
Anonymous | 22 Aug 2011 7:01 am
Good news anyway. All we need now is for a U turn on the facile idea of sending everyone to University out of (a) some kind of Socialist equality kick and (b) a desire to keep pressure off the jobs market (the latter being the harder to overcome- any intelligent person has seen the abject failure of Socialism in the UK anyway) and a return to support for students-at least those doing something useful in their degree.
Elimination of fees for science and Engineering degrees and an increase for the junk studies would increase the tendency to get better students into Engineering (though we can't guarantee they'll stay), and we can see people taking trash like Media Studies, most "Business Studies" courses, Golf Course Management and so on pay thier own way.
"But," I hear the cry "that will mean many people don't get degrees.". Yes, that's what a degree used to mean-it was beyond the capability of most people. Real degrees still are.
And if we can get more people into Engineering, they can enjoy a frequently exciting career that is more rewarding than many of the shining wits (did I spell that right ?) whose antediluvian views are often printed in this magazine would like to claim.
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Anonymous | 22 Aug 2011 9:09 am
Thank god for the Big Bang Theory and the Discovery Channel for showing the younger generation the exciting and "cool" side of a life in the science and technology fields. The hardest thing for kids these days is to filter out the commercial marketing "BS" and discover what career options are out there. It's as if they can not only see now that "smart is the new sexy" but also there is a point to why a teenager would take on the challenge of A level subjects. Another factor would be the law and banking industries have become so demonized in the last 15 years due to financial crisis after crisis. It seems as if it is not possible to be successful and have a positive influence on society as a banker or lawyer these days. As an engineer myself in the Automotive industry I would say it is the best job and I would not like to imagine what I would be doing if I didn't follow my path as an engineer. Don't forget also engineers earn big money in resource driven economies.
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