WELCOME to the first ASB electronic newsletter for 1997.

Remember our Website address is: http://www.anatomy.su.oz.au/ASB/Here

News item 1: Update on the Melbourne meeting of the ASB

Ray Norton and his team in Melbourne are putting together an exciting program for the meeting. The details of this on the web (see above).

If you want to organize a session at the meeting (for instance I want to put on "Fluorescence in Biology") then contact Ray. his email address is: ray@mel.dbe.csiro.au

News item 2: FASTS have had some success in getting the government to focus on the problem of getting new young scientists to enter the discipline.  The following is a summary from FASTS on this subject.

Also, if members wish to respond to the West report (see below) I am sure that Joe Baker would like to hear from you.

Here is the FASTS circular for December and January. Please distribute to
other members of your Society.

On January 7, the Government declared 1997 to be "The Year for Youth in
Science."

In making what is largely a symbolic declaration (there was no new money
for initiatives in this area!), Minister Peter McGauran said that Australia
needed more scientists, technologists and engineers, and not more doctors,
lawyers and accountants.

FASTS believes the most useful step the Government could take to boost
youth interest in science is to improve the quantity of properly qualified
science and mathematics teachers, and to modernise science laboratories in
schools.

The evidence of difficulties in teaching is mounting. Reports have pointed
out the weaknesses - a huge projected shortfall of teachers, the
dissatisfaction of the existing workforce, lower numbers entering the
discipline areas.

The Preston Report by the College of Deans of Education confirms anecdotal
reports of the situation in Australian schools and universities:
* that too many school students are being taught mathematics and science
subjects by teachers not qualified to teach these subjects
* that the universities are not producing enough teachers with
qualifications in areas such as mathematics, physics and chemistry
* that the pool of graduates in science and mathematics available to go on
to gain teaching qualifications is growing smaller in number and weaker in
quality

Australia needs to boost the supply of good science and mathematics
teachers to inspire students to enter these courses at university. All
sorts of career opportunities open up to people with qualifications in
science and mathematics.

The corollary is that all sorts of difficulties lie ahead for the nation
which fails to educate the next generation to cope with the challenges of
the future.

1. Careers Forum
FASTS and the National Tertiary Education Union are organising a one day
Forum to examine the question of career opportunities for younger research
scientists.

It will be at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday March 19,
and features a nationally-televised lunch time address by Professor Ian
Lowe of Griffith University. The Minister for Science and Technology and
his shadow counterparts have been invited to speak, along with young
scientists and leading figures from industry, research and the
universities.

The Forum goes all day, and the registration fee includes a seat at the
Press Club lunch. This is an opportunity to devise constructive solutions
to a problem which threatens the next generation of Australia's research
scientists.

2. The West Review of Higher Education
FASTS' Secretary Dr Chris Easton, of the Research School of Chemistry at
the ANU, is coordinating FASTS' submission to the Review. (ph 06-279 8201,
email easton@rsc.anu.edu.au)

The advertisement calling for submissions will appear on Feb 19, and
submissions have to be in by April 4. Review Secretary is Ian Creagh (ph.
(06) 240 7344, fax (06) 240 8854, email ian.creagh@deetya.gov.au

An indication of FASTS' approach to this Review is in an article I wrote
for the Sydney Morning Herald last month: "Scientists working in the
Universities are walking a funding and budgetary tightrope. All they can
see ahead are red lights and danger signs, as the Universities face up to a
series of challenges.

"These include providing quality teaching for students, and adequate
careers for staff in a time of declining budgets; coping with a shrinking
demand for S&T courses (particularly from quality students with high
tertiary entrance scores) and the uncertain effects of differential HECS;
finding the funds for sophisticated equipment; and meeting the challenges
of international competitiveness and industry and commerce."

3. The Factor (f) Scheme
I have asked to Prime Minister to extend the life of the Factor (f) Scheme.
Under this Scheme, Government incentives for companies to undertake R&D are
compensated for by lower-cost pharmaceuticals to the Australian public. It
has led to strong growth, significant private investment in infrastructure
and research, and the development of a world-leading pharmaceutical
industry in Australia.

FASTS supports Factor (f) as an example of the way Government can encourage
industry to undertake R&D, and believes that the Government could well
consider how the concept could be extended to other scientific and
technological areas.

As Robert Gottliebsen said in the Business Review Weekly recently: "Many
countries to our north would walk over hot coals to get the technology we
have developed here as a result of
Factor f. I suspect many European countries would have the same view."
(December 16, p. 6)

The Factor (f) scheme is a clear example of good science combined with good
business. It would be to the detriment of Australia's interests if this
scheme were to be curtailed or abandoned.

4. Meeting with Chief Scientist, Professor John Stocker
Members of the Board and Executive of FASTS had a profitable half day
meeting with John Stocker and Eric James from DIST on 24 January.

Much of the discussion revolved about FASTS "Ten Top" issues for 1997, and
the Review of S&T that the Chief Scientist will carry out. (Details have
already been distributed to Member Societies.)

It is interesting that the Chief Scientist's terms of reference nominate
FASTS (along with the academies of science) as an organisation he must
consult.

5. "Ten Top" policy issues for 1997
Release of the "Ten Top" issues sparked much discussion this year,
particularly number five which began "Australia has too many universities
..."

Lots of people reached for the phone and email before finishing the
sentence: "...to be able to offer high quality science courses in all
disciplines at all institutions."

Since then I have expanded on this sentence, to say in the SMH article that
in any reorganisation of the universities, the views of academic scientists
working at the coalface must be prominent:

"They alone know how to arrange their resources in the science and
technology-based discipline areas. They should be the ones to identify and
analyse alternative approaches to maintain student access, and standards of
teaching and research in S&T.

"They are closest to the problem, they are best able to understand the
resources available, and have the best appreciation of the non-financial
impacts of any recommended course of action."

6. Media
There has been a lot of interest in science lately, with HECS, the shortage
of teachers, cuts to funding, the Nobel Prize winner becoming "Australian
of the Year," and editorials on science in several papers. The interest is
spreading, and it is good to see "non-scientists" recognising the impact of
a society inadequate in S&T.
 

FASTS recent coverage includes appearances on national ABC radio and
Channel 7 TV; and among the headlines were:
"Call for Review of Maths"
"Scientists warn of threats to uni standards"
"Call for unis to consider merger of resources"
"Scientists in call for quality, not quantity"
"Flight from science feared"
"Vanstone defiant on uni cut-offs"
"Vanstone concedes as science cut-offs fall"
"Science walks a tightrope"

Cris dos Remedios. D.Sc.
Deputy Director
Institute for Biomedical Research
The University of Sydney.
Phone +61 2 93513209;  Fax +61 2 93512813