Skills in SET are globally acknowledged as vital to the development of the industry and research sectors and to growth in a country’s economy. The 2006 Australian Government audit of SET skills9 found the adequacy of skill supply in these areas is an ongoing concern for industry, governments and the scientific research community. This concern is shared by many OECD countries that are experiencing not only lower enrolments in SET areas in higher education, but a decline in youth interest in study and careers in SET.
The demand in SET has grown at almost twice the rate of the workforce as a whole. Projections by the Queensland Chief Scientist10, indicate that there is a need for a significant increase in university-qualified people in SET if we are to compete with knowledge-intensive countries such as Finland. It is time to address what science academics at the University of Queensland see as the ‘Flight from Science – Fright of Science’ dilemma.
The Skills for Jobs and Growth11 indicates a skills shortage in Queensland technical areas as an outcome of the diversification of the industry base beyond the traditional primary and resource-based industries. Knowledge-based industries cannot exist without the technically and commercially qualified individuals that drive them and will not thrive in the absence of a scientifically literate society. In the future, “virtually all quality jobs in the knowledge economy will require certain scientific and mathematical skills.”12
Research conducted during the Audit of SET Skills in Australia9 identified three factors influencing the fall off in engagement in science, mathematics and technology in Australian schools: