FASTS to lobby on science education

Australia's peak council for science and technology has called for a 10-year plan to develop and improve the national education system.

Prof Chris Fell, President of the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS), said Australia needed to make fundamental decisions about its future, and education was a key long-term component.

He said that any solution would require significant new national investment.

"Science, research and innovation are inextricably locked together with the education system at school, university and TAFE," he told the audience at a recent National Press Club forum.

"Any shortcomings in our investment in these areas will be visited on the next generation of Australians. They will suffer declining job opportunities, a poorer environment, and the cultural impoverishment that comes from a reduced emphasis in education."

He said Australia needed enough trained scientists and mathematicians to support an innovation-led economy. This would have to be coupled with a general population able to appreciate science and to debate the ways science should be harnessed to the community's benefit Fell said.

"The truth is that Australia is finding it harder and harder to retain its home-grown talent and attract world-class researchers from overseas," he said.

Fell pointed to a new study by Prof Graeme Hugo of the University of Adelaide, which showed that half of the Australians working overseas had no intention of returning.

Expatriates referred to better employment opportunities, professional development and higher pay as the attractions of living and working overseas.

"Science is an international activity, but it points to something wrong if half our most talented citizens would rather live overseas," Fell said.

"Our education and research facilities need to be top-class if we are to remain competitive."