In a wide ranging talk on the importance of science communication, Australia’s Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb asked a packed room of graduates to put the ‘awesomeness’ back into this area and help reverse a dramatic slide in the popularity of science-related degrees in Australia.
“We're not able to get that awesomeness through to younger people in the same way in our generation when we watched Neil Armstrong land on the moon,” he said.
Speaking at an event co-hosted by the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE) and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) recently at Lucas Heights, Professor Chubb highlighted the slow and steady decline in science enrolments in university and the impact this was having on solving some of the world’s biggest challenges like clean energy and climate change.
“On issues of energy, how will the world survive into the future? How will the planet survive if we're not taking into account the energy requirements – both positive and negative - by accessing opinions and the options available to us and using science to work out what is the best way forward.”
Professor Chubb said that while we had fantastic scientists out there banging the drum for their cause, disturbing attitudinal trends show there’s a lack of interest in science and its importance recently.
“What happens when [high school students] get to university is that about 60 per cent of those students who took a science subject in year 12 enrol in a science related program.
He said most of these students did not think science was important and used it as a doorstop to other career opportunities and did not go on to study fundamental science subjects like physics and chemistry that do not appear in course curriculums until the second and third years.
“Something like 95 per cent of the students taking physics stop after the first year. With chemistry it’s about 80 per cent,” he said.
This becomes a double barrelled problem, according to the former vice-chancellor of the Australian National University with investment in universities linked to study interests.
“We now know the enrolment numbers are uncapped so wherever the students choose to go the money will follow.”
The Australian Government’s ‘Review of Australian Higher Education’ report delivered in 2008 supports Professor Chubb’s view revealing Australia is falling behind other countries in performance and investment in higher education.
Developed and developing countries alike accept there are strong links between their productivity and the proportion of the population with high-level skills.
These countries have concluded that they must invest not only to encourage a major increase in the numbers of the population with degree-level qualifications but also to improve the quality of graduates.
Australia is losing ground. Within the OECD we are now 9th out of 30 in the proportion of our population aged 25 to 34 years with such qualifications, down from 7th a decade ago.
ANSTO actively engages in the promotion of science as a career through its work with secondary schools, including sending scientists to visit schools and offering a range of customised tours to schools that demonstrates the role science plays in our everyday lives.
Professor Chubb also said scientists needed to improve how their research is communicated with the public saying the climate change debate was a prime example of how scientists could not rely on a free ride in gaining the public’s confidence.
“It’s not enough just [for the scientist to] know [about their research], You've got to tell people. You’ve got to tell the community.
“We as scientists have an obligation to take the communities along with us on the journey. We can’t simply wait until the end and say: ‘mate, this will be good for you because I, as a scientist, have decided it will be.’"
Things weren’t all doom and gloom and Professor Chubb held high hopes for the future especially in the role Australia’s science community will play in helping to solve some of the issues facing the world.
“We are about 0.03 per cent of the world's population but we are a rich and developed country and we have an obligation to help less developed countries to benefit from our knowledge.
“The question is how does Australia present to the world?
“I believe science is a serious part of Australia's soft diplomacy. We don't all go out there as diplomats with red passports, but what you do fits in with what the world needs.
“You will provide skills that the world is in desperate need of and this forms part of Australia's position,” he said.
Published: 16/07/2012