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Universities Warn of Disaster As Students Shun Sciences ; Record Numbers Confirm College Places but Decline in Applications to Science Courses is `Disastrous'

Posted on: Sunday, 22 August 2004, 06:00 CDT

Britain's ability to lead the world in applied technology is under threat because so few school leavers are signing up for university science courses.

This year's record number of A grade A-level passes mean that popular courses in subjects such as history and English have filled up almost immediately, with large numbers of well qualified applicants turned away. But universities are reporting the number seeking places on science courses such as chemistry, physics and engineering could be the lowest ever.

Delyth Chambers, chair of admissions officers for the Russell Group - representing the country's 19 most prestigious universities - warned last night of a "worrying" drift away from the sciences.

She said: "We have accepted many candidates this year who have `A' marks in the sciences, but they are not choosing to study science at university. They are deciding to do subjects like law or history. It is a trend that has been particularly noticeable this year. It is a shame that these people are not making use of their science."

The declining number of science students has already forced some university departments to close. There are 40 chemistry departments left in Britain, leaving most universities without any chemistry facilities at all. The Royal Society has predicted that there could be as few as six chemistry departments left within a decade. Physics departments have also suffered.

Meanwhile, good candidates were being turned away from the more popular courses this summer who would have won places in previous years.

A record number of students confirmed their university places this year, according to figures released by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. By lunchtime on Thursday, when candidates received their results, a record 267,442 applicants had their places confirmed, compared to 249,400 last year, a 7.2 per cent increase.

Top universities - such as Oxford and Cambridge - have no vacancies. A survey by The Independent on Sunday has found that many universities confirmed more places within the first 24 hours of students receiving their results than ever before. At Birmingham University, where Mrs Chambers is director of admissions, courses in law, psychology, history, English, medicine and dentistry have been completely filled by candidates who achieved at least the grades in their offers.

"We have had to turn away some extremely well qualified people who have just missed their offers that we would have been able to take in previous years," Mrs Chambers said. "This year a lot of very difficult decisions have had to be made." Nevertheless the university still has vacancies on science courses.

Others - such as the University of Central England in Birmingham - reported that the biggest number of empty places were in computing and engineering. The number of youngsters taking computing at A- level dropped by 12 per cent this year.

Professor Alan Smithers, an adviser to the Commons education select committee and director of the Centre for Education and Employment at Buckingham University, said that the low take-up of science at A-level means universities could be heading for a record shortage of students in physics and chemistry.

One side-effect is that students with straight "C" grades or worse have been able to get places on computing or engineering courses at universities which have imposed tougher entry-level requirements on the more popular degree courses.

Focus, pages 12 and 13

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