DEST Releases Discussion Paper for  a Science, Engineering and Technology Skills Audit. (April 26, 2006)

    The Minister for Education, Science and Training, Brendan Nelson, has today released a discussion paper for the Australian Government’s audit of science, engineering and technology skills. It focuses on the current supply and demand for science, engineering and technology skills and also canvasses the potential supply and demand for these vital skills in the future, and as advertised it is to provide the basis for "a series of national public forums, and targeted one-to-one meetings with key stakeholders."

As stated in the Terms of Reference, the audit is to:

• examine the supply and trends of science, engineering and technology skills, and determine whether our industry needs are being adequately met;

• investigate current and future demands for these skills by industry and the research and education sectors; and

• analyse international mobility of these skills, and the impact this will have on Australia’s future scientific, engineering and technological skills base.

The Audit's home page is http://www.dest.gov.au/setsa/ while the discussion paper can be downloaded from http://www.dest.gov.au/setsa/discussion_paper.htm as an RTF document.

Dr Nelson's introduction to the Discussion Paper says in part:

Australia’s future prosperity relies heavily on science, research and innovation and our ability to perform successfully in a highly competitive global market.

Australia’s scientific and engineering capacity depends, importantly, on the availability of suitably skilled scientists and engineers to meet industry skill needs.

Concerns have arisen that the supply of these skills may not be growing sufficiently to meet emerging needs, especially given the effect of globalisation in skilled labour markets

[A]n audit of science, engineering and technology skills to examine trends in demand and supply of these skills will provide an analytical basis for further consideration of the issues.

I invite your input to the audit by way of written submission or by attending one of the upcoming consultation forums which will be held in all capital cities.

It is of interest to note that in the section dealing with the scope of the audit (page 8) that paper states:

The OECD Background Report: An Analysis of S & T Labour Markets in OECD Countries, for example, defines skill as “the qualifications needed to perform certain tasks in the labour market according to occupational qualifications.” Science skills are linked to occupations. For instance, research scientists need to develop specialised skills in their chosen field via university undergraduate and postgraduate work.

Whether or not DEST will seek to determine the relationship between the decline in full time academics in mathematics and the enabling sciences who teach and research, as well as the dearth in secondary school teachers properly qualified to teach mathematics, physics and chemistry and will seriously attempt to address and rectify the defects rather than obfuscate ... well it should be apparent by year's end.