Scientists Discuss Graduate Needs

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32037, 11 July 1969, Page 1

Scientists Discuss Graduate Needs

-(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, July 10.

Unless there is a rethinking of university objectives and educational methods, university graduates will not be trained in the right disciplines, according to a statement by the Association of Scientists.

After a conference to examine the part that science and technology would play in achieving the objectives set by the National Development Conference, the association said there would be enough university graduates numerically in the next 10 years to satisfy the N.D.C. recommendations, but they would not have graduated in the right disciplines unless there was such a rethinking. The association said there were reports of losses far above the national average of trained scientists in some critical areas, and the conference expressed the need for an immediate effort to retain these people. The conference suggested research contracts from industry carried out within the universities, and supported free interchange of staff between university and Government research organisations.

The conference was concerned at the lack of contact between scientists and industry generally. The conference found a

serious shortage of reliable information on which to base forecasts—particularly in the field of education, where it had been impossible to determine the likely number of graduates in each discipline who would become available in the next decade. On the basis of information presented at this conference the Association of Scientists is preparing a paper entitled “Policy For Science.” This paper will outline the future of New Zealand science in terms of its objectives, and the manpower and equipment needed to carry out the objectives set by the National Development Conference.