Canty students for Auckland course

Press, 18 December 1989, Page 18

Canty students for Auckland course

Nine Canterbury seventh-formers will be among 100 students from around New Zealand and Fiji who will take part in the first national summer science school to be held in Auckland in January. The school will run for a week, beginning on January 8. Students will study recent developments in chemistry, physics, biology, geology, computer science and environmental science. The aim is to encourage bright students to take science at tertiary level and improve the quality of science graduates, said Associate Professor Roy Geddes, dean of the science faculty at Auckland University.

“We want to make an impression on talented youngsters who have a vocation for science but may not have recognised it.” He said New Zealand desperately needed more trained scientists if it was not to stagnate economically and sink to thirdworld level. “Environmental problems, local and global, will be solved only if tackled by the best brains in the land.” As well as listening and observing, students will help conduct experiments on expensive state-of-the-art equipment and be exposed to the latest research findings of some of New Zealand’s top scientists, he said.