Stephen Clarke: Why we need to manufacture a new kind of graduate

IT is not just higher borrowing and lower growth that is grabbing the headlines. Despite the Government’s attempt to rebalance the economy, Britain is struggling to increase goods exports and the resurgence in manufacturing hoped for by ministers is not coming.

It is a question seldom asked when discussing the country’s economic woes, but is Britain producing the right graduates to increase manufacturing output?

Since the financial crisis, both parties have trumpeted the need to support British manufacturing.

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In many respects, this has only emphasised the fact that this sector was neglected when the City was booming and politicians seemed to believe that finance alone could power the British economy.

It is now clear that manufacturing was not just neglected economically but also in the education system. In 2007 there were 5,769 fewer British engineering and technology students at university than in 1997. To put this is context: in 2007 British universities were educating 600,000 more students than in 1997.

Such failure reflects particularly badly on attempts by successive governments to increase the number of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) graduates.

The coalition Government’s support for STEM subjects was made explicit in its decision to protect their public funding, while slashing grants for other courses.

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This decision came after a decade in which, despite the fall in the number of British engineering students, the number of students taking these vital subjects has increased.

Taking four STEM subject groups – mathematical sciences, physical sciences, engineering and technology and computer sciences – there were 63,128 more students in 2007 than a decade earlier.

Can the previous Government pat itself on the back for overseeing a decade of growth in STEM students? Sadly, no.

Not only was the growth in other subjects far greater but a closer look at the figures reveals that a disproportionate amount of the growth in these subjects is accounted for by the increase in overseas students.

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The most dramatic case is engineering and technology. While the number of British engineering and technology students fell by 5,769 between 1997 and 2007, the number of overseas engineering and technology students increased by 12,308. The result: overseas students accounted for more than 100 per cent of the increase in engineering and technology students over the period.

This trend is repeated, albeit less dramatically, in the other subjects. Overseas students accounted for 41.7 per cent of the increase in computer sciences students and 34 per cent of the increase in physical sciences students. This is above the average: overseas students accounted for 25.3 per cent of the total increase in student numbers between 1997 and 2007.

A further worry for the Government is that over 70 per cent of the overseas students studying these STEM subjects are from outside the EU. These students do not have an automatic right to stay in the UK and are therefore more likely to take their skills back to their country of origin.

It should be of great concern that while Britain is educating more STEM graduates it may not be employing them if the majority of overseas students, especially those from outside the EU, return to their country of origin.

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Although there has been some growth in student numbers, this growth has lagged behind the number studying other subjects.

This, combined with the fact that a significant proportion of the growth in STEM student numbers is overseas students, indicates that the UK is losing the skills it needs to succeed in the global economy. In the long run, the effects of this could be catastrophic, if they have not been already.

It has been suggested that British manufacturers have not been able to benefit from the recent fall in the value of the pound because the manufacturing sector lost significant capacity in the last couple of decades. In a similar sense, British students have been losing the capacity to work in industry, especially in businesses that require high levels of skill and expertise.

The Government must reassess how it encourages British youngsters to take STEM subjects. Previous attempts to generate more interest in these subjects have failed. Many British universities are the envy of the world. Unfortunately at present the British economy isn’t.

The Government must remember that world-class higher education institutions are vital, but the economy will only benefit if the world-class minds they produce work in the UK.

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