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21 April 2005, OECD Headquarters5 Paris
OECD Working Group on the Steering and Funding of Research Institutions (SFRI)
Lead country: Australia
Background
OECD countries are concerned that the supply of science and technology graduates is not increasing fast enough to keep up with demand from industry and academia. Evidence of a decline of S&T graduates, in either relative or absolute terms, is mixed in most OECD countries: overall the supply of graduates in S&T continues to rise, although a few countries have seen a decline in specific fields such as chemistry and physics. Furthermore, there is little evidence of strong upward pressure on wages for S&T professionals. In fact, poor career prospects in the scientific occupations are often cited as one of the main reasons behind the decline in scientific studies among young people. Meanwhile, the sources of supply are also changing: more women are entering the scientific workforce even if they remain under-represented in certain fields/sectors. Non-university institutions are increasingly providers of S&T skills that industry demands. Finally, while foreign S&T graduates make up a growing part of S&T workforce in several OECD countries, some developing countries are now creating opportunities for their return as well as for the outsourcing of R&D jobs from the OECD countries.
Objectives
This one-day workshop aimed to address the following key issues: Where will new industrial demand for S&T graduates come from? How can the labour market for S&T professionals, especially in the government and higher education sectors be improved? Are there “good practices” policies to improve the match between the supply of S&T graduates and demand? In addition, this workshop should open up new avenues for further research by the OECD’s SFRI working group.
To consult :
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