Member News
Recruitment firm Populus Select is so concerned about issues that could hamper the future of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) sector that is has contacted the Government.
The specialist science and sustainable technology recruitment firm, which is headquartered in the Tees Valley, fears that education courses have too narrow a focus and that will impact on the future success of STEM industries.
Populus has flagged up its concerns with the Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Select Committee.
The company is calling for a shake-up in the higher education system to overcome difficulties which will curtail the expansion, impact and growth of the technology, engineering and scientific communities.
Populus points out that STEM graduates are too specialised.
It argues there is an acute need for a broader, more flexible STEM workforce at first degree standard, who then can specialise either in the workplace or through further degrees.
The submission to the Select Committee has been spearheaded by Donna James, Populus Research Director.
She has 25 years’ experience of labour market research in academia, and research agencies supplying to government departments, private industry and public bodies.
She said: “Of paramount importance to the UK’s short, medium and long-term economic health is a better and larger supply of a broad base of a STEM-literate population.
“If the base of STEM- savvy students increases, then we will be in a good position to skill up and supply the industries that don’t yet exist to meet the mounting and, as yet as unknown, challenges of the future.”
Populus has called for a plan of action to overcome this STEM deficiency including:
- A reform of post-16 education to promote an International Baccalaureate type system comprising six subjects instead of a restrictive specialisation at A-level with the promotion of STEM at its heart
- This overhaul should be undertaken alongside the promotion and expansion of STEM vocational courses and apprenticeships
- The creation of a more adaptable, responsive, broader cohort of STEM graduates with specialisation beginning in the workplace rather than at initial academic stages.
Donna James added: “Structural problems in our educational and career guidance systems and the lack of scientific understanding in society at large is storing up future barriers to developing a strong and successful STEM sector in the UK.
“At Populus, we are so concerned about the situation that we felt it necessary to bring it to the attention of the highest level influencers and decisionmakers.
“As a result, we have written to the Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Select Committee to highlight the issues we have identified.”
Populus Select specialises in professional and executive level roles in the North East of England, and national and internationally.
