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Science and maths degrees in 'irreversible decline'
Last updated at 23:37pm on 08.02.07
Sciences, maths and languages are suffering an 'irreversible decline' and dying out in British universities, a study has warned.
One in ten maths and science courses and 15 per cent of French courses have closed over the past decade, the University and College Union said.
The closures are part of a worrying trend of students shunning traditional academic disciplines in favour of trendier degrees such as media studies.
A combination of flagging student demand and funding shortfalls are blamed for the closures, which have led to warnings that Britain will struggle to compete with economic rivals.
Academic leaders said the decline of science will seriously impair the country's ability to cope with global warming and pandemic diseases.
Meanwhile the fall in language degrees - echoing a similar decline in school teaching - means UK firms will not be able compete as well in the globalised economy.
The closures that have taken place are leading to "black spots" around the country where there is no provision of maths or science degrees.
There is now only one science or maths course for every 200,000 Britons aged 16 to 29, although the figure reaches 400,000 in some parts of the country, including the North East.
The UCU research uncovered a 10 per cent fall in the number of science and maths courses at UK universities over the last decade, from 250 to 224, with physics and chemistry the worst affected.
There was a 31 per cent decline in chemistry courses and 14 per cent fall in physics.
Reading University is the latest to announce it is closing its physics department.
Meanwhile the number of colleges and universities offering French dropped 15 per cent over the 10-year period, while German courses have been cut by a quarter.
The study claims the Government's decision in 2004 to allow 14-year-olds to drop languages will further accelerate the decline.
UCU joint general secretary Sally Hunt said: "The state of science and modern language provision at university demonstrates the shameful gap between rhetoric and reality in higher education policy.
"We are facing a potentially irreversible decline in the provision of science unless action is taken now."
She added: "We need to be encouraging future linguists, especially as future teachers. Without them, we will witness a terminal decline in students studying languages, which will damage our civil society and impact on how we interact with the rest of the world."
The union, which represents academics and lecturers, is warning that the decline would hit students from poorer families who could not afford to study far from home.
Miss Hunt added: "The increasing cost of university means many students are being forced to study closer to home. We simply cannot afford to have areas of the country where local students do not have access to the courses they want to study."
University applications for 2006 declined for the first time in six years, down 3.4 per cent on the previous year, according to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service.
Traditional academic subjects such as English literature, history, philosophy and classics saw a significant reduction in applicants which experts blamed mainly on the introduction of £3,000 top-up fees.
English applicants to universities in England - the group hardest hit by fees - were down 4.5 per cent last year.
Reader views (4)
My God, what absolute rubbish some people talk. To do science you need to be interested in it. Then it becomes as easy as any other subject. I happen to love science so I find it unendingly interesting.
You can`t force it on people! To say we have a generation that likes the easy option or that people who love science are more intelligent is just plain stupid. If students don`t want to do it because they have no interest or there is no money in it then that`s that. Stop these silly debates which encourages daft comments like the above.
- David Crawford, london
I wouldn't say my generation chooses the easiest route. I have been taking sciences for years and they require too much effort for the mark you receive. All they really seem to do is lower your grade point average limiting your ability to get into programs. I generally take Arts classes to "artifically" up my GPA even though I very rarely IF EVER attend those classes. I generally attend only test days and study the night before. Having worked in the College systems as a employee I feel it's more the institition's fault of trying to weed-out absolutely as many science students as possible in the first 2 years. I know very few people from my freshmen year that have continued on. I guess it was the 70% Fail rate in Chemistry that did it?
- Quinn, Canada
The basic problem is that any meaningful understanding of science involves studying hard, in a traditional intellectual manner. The truth is that only a minority of intelligent and academically-orientated school pupils have the intelligence and mental discipline to do this.
In modern all-ability schools even those with these gifts rarely get any opportunity to develop them, because classes always end up going at a pace dictated by the least able students. The brightest students get bored. Then someone tells them that there's more money to be made from law or finance in any case, so why bother with science?
Nothing can get better until the penny drops, that you can't make silk purses out of sows' ears. You wouldn't expect all children to be able to do equally well on a sports field, however much good training they were given. So why is it considered "elitist" to take those with innate intelligence and a particular interest in science, and teach them from age 11 onwards in a way that challenges their ability to its limits and would leave the other nine-tenths of school pupils hopelessly lost? (And ditto, those with a flair for sport, or languages, or dress-designing. It's just that in the big picture of the economy, science matters more).
- Nigel, London
This seems to be a generation that chooses the easy option at every turn!
- Steve R, London, UK
