Govt concern prompts audit of science skills shortage

The federal government has released a discussion paper on Australia's growing shortage of skilled professionals in science, engineering and technology (SET).

The acting minister for education science and training, Gary Hardgrave, said the paper would provide the basis for an audit of the nation's skills in SET.

In a foreword to the paper, the minister for education science and training, Brendan Nelson, said Australia's future prosperity relies heavily on its skills in SET, and its ability to perform successfully in a highly competitive global market.

Nelson said concerns had arisen that the supply of SET professionals was not growing sufficiently to meet emerging needs, especially given the effect of globalisation in skilled labour markets.

The audit of SET skills would examine trends in demand and supply, as the basis for considering the issues involved.

The discussion paper noted that Australia already has a significant workforce with SET skills - around 1.3 million were employed by Australian industry in 2003-04, representing about 13.5 per cent of national employment.

But industry and science research organisations had expressed concern that the supply of skills from the education and training system might not be adequate to meet current or future demand - trends in participation in science and related disciplines, both at school and post-school level, were also an issue.

The paper also noted that the capacity of the vocational education and training system to meet the needs of emerging industries was commonly mismatched to the current mix of available skills.

"There has also been a wide ranging debate on 'brain gain/brain drain' issues," the paper said. "Many Australians now live and work overseas and some commentators have suggested that Australia is losing its 'best and brightest' to overseas labour markets.

"The data available suggests that Australia is in fact gaining skills from net migration, but debate continues about the quality of migrants' skills and there are concerns that policy and industry changes in other countries may add to overseas demand for Australians with SET skills."

According to the discussion paper, the shortage of SET skills is a global issue, with the OECD currently studying the issue - the Australian audit will draw upon the OECD analysis.

The audit will report on:

• The supply of SET skills from all training and education sectors
• Public- and private-sector demand for SET skills
• The success of the education sectors in meeting existing SET skill needs, and responding to emerging needs, and
• Long and short-term trends in the emigration and immigration of SET graduates, and their likely impact on Australia's skills base, against the background of an ageing workforce, and demand from countries with much greater research expenditures than Australia.

A high-level steering committee, comprising representatives from industry bodies, the science community, the universities, learned academies and the vocational educational and training sectors, will oversee the audit.