Is science on the way out of our education?
The move on the part of Exeter University to close its chemistry department has been greeted with consternation in some quarters. It has prompted a prominent chemist now at the University of Sussex, Sir Harry Kroto, to hand back an honorary degree from Exeter in protest. Moreover, chemistry is not the only discipline under threat. Physics is encountering the same antagonism on the part of university authorities.
These moves are the subject of a commentary in Science for 4 February. This points
out that over the past decade UK universities have announced a steady stream
of closure of some of their science departments. Fewer than half now offer courses
in undergraduate chemistry and physics faces a similar reduction.
Curiously enough, there is no evidence that such departments are failing in excellence,
and Exeter in particular saw a 21 per cent rise in applications to study chemistry
in the academic year 2004–05. Nevertheless, the university senate has seen
fit to close the school of chemistry and concentrate on expanding the school
of biosciences.
The reason given for the shrinkage is that the government, the main source
of finances, does not provide enough money for courses based on the
relatively expensive
laboratory work involved in chemistry and physics. This, however, is not the
only factor forcing change. Science students are being persuaded that more career-specific
courses such as forensic science, sports science and that curious hybrid “media
studies” will bring them a quicker and larger income.
The government is being forced to reconsider its position over protecting five
strategic areas of study, one of which includes science, engineering, manufacturing
technology and mathematics. The great snag seems to be that no additional funding
will be made available to universities for the purpose. It must be faced that
the physical sciences no longer attract students as once they did.
Meanwhile, the government is trying to bring more students into higher education,
but the proportion taking up the physical sciences is declining. This may be
connected with the fact that fewer science graduates are adopting teaching as
a profession, since other occupations promise larger salaries and opportunities
for advancement. Science teachers tend to be given less prominence and respect.
And it is difficult to persuade high school students that studying a basic science
rather than an applied one offers them any benefit.
While politicians persist in taking a rigid commercial approach to university
funding, and in forcing the institutional administrators to think likewise, the
situation is unlikely to improve. As always happens when a decision is taken
with the short-term vision, the evil repercussions of this problem will sooner
or later overtake us, regrettably.
Back to Top
|
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
Recourse to alcohol
for those who find their world unsatisfying goes back many thousands of years.
It has been practised not only by humans at various stages
of culture, but by animals such as elephants and great apes in the wild. At
the root of the problem is the fact that, if allowed to ferment, almost
any vegetable
material, and particularly fruits and fruit juices, will produce ethanol and
other intoxicating alcohols. It is true that some of the products are hazardous
in the extreme, but if their consumption gives an animal a psychic lift, then
a habit will result. Given the will to produce them it seems impossible to
outlaw alcoholic beverages at the domestic level.