Chamber to address fall off in science graduates

THE threat to industry

The American Chamber of Commerce, which represents many of Ireland’s largest multinational employers, has established an education working group to work with industry, Government and the education sector to

address the problem. Chaired by Frank Turpin, education manager of Intel Ireland, the working group has been established in direct response to concerns raised by members of the chamber, many of whom view the lack of future technology, engineering and science graduates as one of the most serious issues affecting Ireland’s continued economic prosperity.

“Expertise and creativity in the fields of sciences, engineering and technology are crucial to the continued success of the Irish economy,” said Mr Turpin.

“The decline is not restricted to Universities. It is also worrying that the fall-off in Leaving Cert students taking physical science subjects continues.

“This year from a total of over 56,000 sitting the Leaving Cert only 9,000 students took physics and 6,600 took Chemistry,” he added.

American Chamber chief executive Joanne Richardson says resolving the problem requires solutions from Government, industry and educators to help students pursue careers in science.

“Change will only come about through radical reform of science and technology education together with industries simultaneously addressing the issues which underlie the negative perception of careers in the sector” she said .

“The pace and scale of current scientific discovery is very exciting and we must translate this to students. physical sciences are viewed as difficult and boring but we must make it a ‘cool’ subject with students if we are to develop this generation into world-class leaders in science and technology.

The primary role of the Working Group will be to provide a forum through which our members can work together, in partnership with Government and the education sector, to develop practical solutions to this issue”, she added.

At the inaugural meeting of its education working group, the American Chamber yesterday day expressed its support for the recommendations of the Task Force on the Physical Sciences and urged the Government to implement the key recommendations of the Task Force without delay.

Specific emphasis should be placed on the inclusion of Science in the curriculum at all Primary and Secondary Level Schools and the utilisation of Transition year for science based projects. The American Chamber also supports the establishment of an Interactive Science Centre for Ireland.

There are currently 570 US companies with a presence in Ireland providing employment to over 89,000 people. The United States is Ireland’s largest single source of inward investment and is a leading economic development force.

Many of the Chamber’s members are already individually supporting science awareness programmes. Pfizer, Intel and Schering-Plough are just some of the many companies actively promoting science and technology in education while many more members are strong supporters of the STEPS programme operated by the Institute of Engineers of Ireland.