2005:46 R

Sweden needs more natural scientists - or does it?

Both the national authorities and the commercial sector emphasise the importance of expertise in the natural sciences for the Sweden´s competitiveness and for economic growth. As a result many measures have been invoked to increase recruitment to programmes in the natural sciences. There has therefore been a major expansion of education in the natural sciences and the numbers of graduates with natural science degrees at both undergraduate and postgraduate level has risen markedly. At the same time unemployment among natural scientists has increased considerably in recent years, particularly for those with qualifications in some areas, and not even a postgraduate degree in this field can now guarantee employment.

At the moment there is a good supply of natural scientists on the labour market and the demands made by employers seeking staff are high. In addition to sound subject knowledge and work experience, specific skills and expertise are also required.

The volume of programmes in the natural sciences is not governed primarily by labour market needs but mainly by student demand, which is the natural consequence of the current funding system. On the other hand attempts are made to adapt the contents of these programmes to the demands made by employers. However there are shortcomings in the way in which the higher education institution deal with labour market links in general programmes in the natural sciences. At the same time the high level of unemployment makes it very important to increase the employability of those graduating. The higher education institution should therefore focus even more on labour market links and introduce workplace-related elements in the programmes. Students who have completed their studies should also be monitored regularly.