Barriers and disincentives in S&T education and careers* or The trouble with Science and Physics as a test case Enrico Predazzi 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 1 Advance in Science is the prerequisite for the advance in Technology and most everybody admits today the validity of the sequence Science => Technology => Economic wealth (even though not everybody would anylonger agree unrestrictedly on the other connection Science => Technology => Progress which has long been considered an absolute truth). 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 2 In a hearing of the US Senate Finance Committee (June 2001), the President of the US National Science Board, professor Eamon M. Kelly made the following statement: In a speech before the American Association for the Advancement of Science on May 3, Larry Lindsey stated that "the average annual real rate of return on corporate investment in America is about 9 percent." Compare that to a conservative estimate that the return on Federal investment in basic research is about 30 percent. (http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/documents/2001/speeches/kelly06601.txt). 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 3
The US Council of Scientific Presidents in February 1996 made the statement that For each dollar originally invested, federally supported fundamental scientific research repays the economy 20% to 50% annually in each succeeding year. This has been established by more than a dozen independent studies. (http://www.mdsg.umces.edu/cssp/policy/cssp1p96.pdf). 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 4 1990 2000 Science graduates per million youth labour force (1999) Growth of researchers (1990-200) 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Science graduates per million youth labour force (1999) Italy Spain Austria Ireland Korea Netherlands European Union United Kingdom Canada France Total OECD Germany Switzerland Denmark Australia Belgium Norway United States Sweden Japan Finland Iceland Figure 1. Comparison of growth of researchers in OECD countries (1990-2000) and number of science graduates per thousand youth 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 5 Gareth Roberts report In mathematics there are insufficient teachers to match the demands of the curriculum in one school in eight, a situation that has deteriorated from the previous year. 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 6
Many are the motivations for the decline of interest in the young generations that are usually given: i) the difficulty of scientific studies (compared with other disciplines) ii) a supposed inadequacy in the preparation of the teachers iii) a not so favourable occupational level (compared with other qualifications) iv) an alleged difficulty in finding a proper job and a limited choice of careers (research and teaching, basically) and many more. 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 7 Few data from the UK Institute of Physics Fig 2 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 8 Few data from the UK Institute of Physics (2) Fig 3 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 9
Many interesting features are exhibited in Figures 2&3: i) the extreme diversification and variety of jobs (Figure 3), ii) the limited amount of teaching careers) (2.7%, Fig. 2), iii) the very large portion of students who go for a higher degree (27.5%, Fig. 2), iv) the relatively minor amount of unemployed (about 6%, Fig. 2). Also worth noticing is the worrisomely small amount of women in physics (less than 25%). 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 10 Figure 4 shows the latest survey for students of all fields Fig 4 http://www.almalaurea.it/ 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 11 Graduates who do not seek employment Fig 5 http://www.almalaurea.it/ 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 12
About 90% of these students who do not seek employment are studying for a higher degree (this figure is very close to the 27.5% reported by the UK Institute of Physics in Figure 2). Also the relatively low level of unemployment is worth mentioning and, again, perfectly similar to the one already quoted in the UK (Figure 2). It is interesting that the general features of the data relative to both the UK and Italy are very close. 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 13 The case of physics in Italy is particularly well monitored (spans over four decades) and I will focus on the evolution of the employment of physics graduates (Figure 6). Particularly noteworthy is that the labour market (industry, commerce, banks, finance and insurances etc.) absorbs nowadays nearly half the physics graduates while it was barely 10% in the late Fiftees. Conversely, University, research and teaching careers have gone down from over 70% in the Fiftees (85% in the Sixtees) to slightly over 35% (of which 25% in research and University). The latter data refer to the year 2001 (the last for which we have detailed information). 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 14 Time variation of employment of physics graduates 1959-2001 Fig 6 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 15
We are, therefore, back to case one and to the title of my talk. Where do the barriers and disincentives in S&T educationalcareers come from and how much of psychological origin are they? 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 16 In countries like Italy one could be tempted to get away by invoking the cultural preminence of humanities in the formation of the ruling class (the long standing quarrel over the ill-famed two cultures). This, however, can not be taken as a general explanation. 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 17 Another partial explanation could be the prevailing scientific ignorance of the population (over 25% of the European population still believes that the Sun rotates around the Earth and ignores whether antibiotics are efficient against viruses) which probably accounts for the undifferentiated phobia of most laymen against nuclear energy, against the introduction of GMO or, on the opposite, in favour of homeopathy and the like. 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 18
In the days when the media bombard the population with scientific information and the popularization of Science is a keyword, the mediocrity of such information could be argued to be often more dangerous than positive. Magic and occultism are, presumably, also very disruptive in a world where many Men of Power consult their astrologist before taking any decisions... 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 19... and, of course, we should not be so blind as not to admit our own sins; too many scientists have become prone to undifferentiated and acritical technological developments and have often lived in an iron tower which did not admit any criticism. 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 20 With the exclusion of the very small minority of the population which would accept (at least in words) to reduce its standards of living, the developments of S&T represents the best and possibly unique guarantee of economical advancement. Only the realization that S&T and high technology are a must will preserve the economical development of modern countries. For the time being, in this respect Italy is still loosing ground and time is running short. 05/06/2003 Enrico Predazzi - DEAN Faculty of Science - University of Turin 21