Recent Press Releases
HEFCE funding award gives boost to physical sciences
PR05(06)
Wed, 23 May 2007
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) today announced more than £5m backing for two major initiatives by the learned societies responsible for promoting physics and chemistry. The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) will be awarded £3.6m and the Institute of Physics (IOP) £1.8m. The announcement follows an agreement last year that HEFCE would work with a group of organisations to support strategically important and vulnerable subjects.
Steve Egan, Acting Chief Executive of HEFCE, said: ’We are delighted to support both these programmes. Chemistry and physics are both of fundamental importance to the development of our science base and the economic well-being of the country.
‘We believe that the long-term health of these subjects can best be secured by ensuring that there is an increasing demand from people wishing to study them who are well informed about future career prospects. We are pleased to work with partners - including the learned societies, universities, schools, colleges and employers - to stimulate interest and excitement in these subjects and to bring them to the attention of pupils from a wide range of backgrounds.’
The Chemistry For Our Future programme aims to ensure a strong and sustainable chemical science community within higher education, and to provide a sound basis for continuing the success of industries that rely on chemistry.
The IOP’s Stimulating Demand for Physics programme will be funded in partnership with several universities and a wide range of other organisations. The programme has two principal strands, Access and Demand, which aims to increase the numbers of students studying physics-based courses in higher education institutions. This will include developing exciting new physics-based courses to appeal to students, and repackaging of existing physics degrees. If the pilot studies are successful, the aim will be to roll out the programme across the country over the next five to ten years.
Chief Executive of the RSC, Richard Pike, said: ‘In the early stage the RSC will roll out into other regions of England its existing Chemistry: The Next Generation programme, and will also work to enhance understanding between schools and universities, smoothing the transition to HE while informing curriculum development, which is a major aspect of the programme.
‘Other strands of the RSC scheme will look at smarter use of existing laboratory facilities. The plan will also embrace careers advice for students, teachers and careers advisers, and the sharing of good practice across the HE sector.’
Robert Kirby-Harris, chief executive of the IOP, said: “The Institute is very pleased that our project will be going into action. The Access Strand of our programme looks at three areas. The first involves the creation of a new type of physics-based integrated science programme to appeal to students who want a broad science degree with the possibility of specialisation later.
‘The second area is the repackaging of existing physics degrees to appeal more to the needs of students in the twenty-first century. Finally, we intend to improve the link between schools and universities by instigating a teacher fellowship scheme that enables teachers to spend time teaching in university departments and developing personal links with academics.’
The Demand Strand programme addresses two important issues in schools: the shortage of specialist physics teachers and the lack of realistic career goals among young people. Clusters of schools will be selected, and dedicated support will be provided to the non-specialist teachers of physics. In addition, a whole range of careers -focused activities will be targeted at school students, including e-mentoring and ‘physics in action’ visits.
The financial administration of the two projects will be undertaken through the University of Leicester, working in partnership with the RSC and the IOP.
Notes to editors:
For further information please contact:
Helen MacBain Institute of Physics 0207 470 4815; mobile 07946 321473
Brian Emsley Royal Society of Chemistry 0207 440 3317; mobile 07867 993849.
Roger Grinyer, Higher Education Funding Council for England, 0117 931 7307
The Royal Society of Chemistry is the UK professional body for chemical scientists and an international learned society for the chemical sciences with some 43,000 members worldwide. It is a major international publisher of chemical information, supports the teaching of the chemical sciences at all levels and is a leader in bringing science to the public.
The Institute of Physics is a leading international professional body and learned society with over 37,000 members, which promotes the advancement and dissemination of knowledge of and education in the science of physics, pure and applied. It has a world -wide membership and is a major international player in:
- scientific publishing and electronic dissemination of physics;
- setting professional standards for physicists and awarding professional qualifications;
- promoting physics through scientific conferences, education and science policy advice.
The Higher Education Funding Council for England distributes public funding for higher education to universities and colleges in England. It is bringing together a series of activities to support certain subjects which are regarded as strategically important to the economy and society, but which may be vulnerable because of a mismatch between supply and demand. The HEFCE Board has advised the Secretary of State for Education and Skills that any action by HEFCE should be effective, targeted and proportionate.
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