Call for industry boost for graduates

Any cut in State support for scientific research could damage the country's growing reputation in this area - and damage our ability to compete, warns the National Competitiveness Council chairman

ANY REDUCTION IN State support for scientific research could have dangerous consequences. Not only could it damage our growing reputation abroad for research, it could reduce our competitiveness and harm wider society as a result, the chairman of the National Competitiveness Council has warned.

"Confidence is hard earned and trust is hard earned," says Dr Don Thornhill, chairman of the National Competitiveness Council. "If any significant diminution in research funding were to be accompanied by rhetoric which says research must wait, that would be dangerous. But if investment is maintained, that would send a very strong signal."

His comments come as the Government struggles with the most difficult fiscal position experienced in decades. There is pressure from all sides to reduce spending but there remains an ongoing need to invest in order to raise living standards.

This is a time of considerable policy risk, he suggests, making it essential that the public and the politicians fully understand the need for continued steady State investment in growing our knowledge economy.

"The benefits come into the whole competitiveness space," he believes. Irish business must be able to trade profitably in international markets to their own benefit but also to the benefit of their employees and to the wider society. The individuals gain and society gains.

The capacity to do this increasingly depends on the application of new technologies as a way to increase competitiveness, but this in turn comes from wider State research investment.

A national commitment to research brings other benefits however, including new knowledge and highly trained individuals who know how the knowledge system works. Both deliver major benefits to society as a whole, he believes. The two are interconnected, with trained PhDs and scientists working in research to create new knowledge, which fosters new research. But this knowledge capital and human capital are dependent on continued heavy State support, Dr Thornhill says.

He sees changes coming in the career paths likely to be followed by these highly-trained knowledge workers, not least because of the Government's aim to double the annual output of PhD graduates within the next few years.

"If we are doing all of that and take the logic of research being the key to a competitive future, we need to keep in mind what these people do," he argues.

Currently two-thirds of PhD graduates stay in academic research, with a third moving to other careers including business, according to a recent study by Science Foundation Ireland.

This is certain to reverse, with more seeking careers outside of research within the next few years, he believes. In part this will arise because the research system will not be large enough to absorb all of the graduates being produced.

Many are expected to transfer into business, but unless programmes of study are modified they will not have the best possible skill sets to gain from this move, he says.

For this reason he believes Ireland should introduce additional training for PhD students akin to what in the US is known as a professional science master's degree. This leaves graduates better equipped to move across into a wide range of business environments, carrying with them more rounded skills.

He sees significant potential in producing something akin to a PhD/MBA. "Maybe what we should be looking at is after two years of research they could pursue a professional doctorate." This would equip a postgraduate with the research and development skills applicable in a knowledge-driven economy but also provide wider business skills.

This training approach would give postgraduates more confidence to move outside the research area and into business, while retaining research and technology skills. It would also make them more attractive to perspective business employers. It would deliver scientists and engineers who would be as good commercially as MBAs, he believes.

The approach would help show those students anxious to study the sciences but uncertain about their long-term career prospects that there are options for them after graduation that go beyond research. They would also help build a knowledge economy given they are knowledge workers in their own right.