Universities ‘lag behind’ in STEM subjects

The United Kingdom is ‘lagging behind’ in science and maths at university level, according to new international rankings, writes Josie Gurney-Read for The Telegraph. The annual figures from QS show that while the UK is still performing strongly in the arts and humanities, it is falling behind in STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and maths.

Analysis of the rankings found that only three of the top 50 universities for civil engineering were in the UK, less than Hong Kong and Australia. The new figures also revealed that Asia had 10 of the top 30 institutions in the areas of chemical, civil and electrical engineering and eight for mechanical engineering, with the National University of Singapore making the global top 10 in all five of the engineering and technology disciplines.

The new rankings come in the same month that a report from The Commons Science and Technology Committee warned that the UK could risk failing to find enough workers to fill vital jobs in science and industry.
Full report on The Telegraph site