[ajb]

According to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service there has been a raise in the number of students applying for physics courses at university this year in the UK. This is despite an overall decrease across the board. Physics is up by 8.3% as compared to last year.

See the IOP news report here.

It seems that the number of students applying for a university place in England has gone down 9.9% as compared to last year. Wales and Scotland, who have different levels of student funding have different statistics. The drop in Scotland is about 1.5%, Wales 1.9% and Northern Ireland 4%.

See the BBC news report here.

This post has been edited by ajb: 3 February 2012 - 10:38 PM

[DrRocket]

ajb, on 3 February 2012 - 10:32 PM, said:

According to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service there has been a raise in the number of students applying for physics courses at university this year in the UK. This is despite an overall decrease across the board. Physics is up by 8.3% as compared to last year.

See the IOP news report here.

It seems that the number of students applying for a university place in England has gone down 9.9% as compared to last year. Wales and Scotland, who have different levels of student funding have different statistics. The drop in Scotland is about 1.5%, Wales 1.9% and Northern Ireland 4%.

See the BBC news report here.

Any idea why ?

Those cost figures are a bit breathtaking for a public school.

[ajb]

Brian Cox has been suggested as one reason why physics is popular at the moment. The Big Bang Theory is another suggestion.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

At my university (University of Texas at Austin), undergraduate physics enrollment has gone up fairly dramatically in the past few years. Mostly it's been attributed to a marketing initiative undertaken by the department, which did things like open houses during new student orientation so students could discover that physics research isn't all about inclined planes and massless pulleys.

We will have to see if the trend continues. I'd like to see physics gain recognition as more than just something for hopelessly academic types.

[John Cuthber]

They finally realised that " I have Sociology degree: I spent 3 years and £27,000 studying Mr +Mrs Beckham" won't get you a real job.

Never mid the Mickey take about sociology.
"It seems that the number of students applying for a university place in England has gone down 9.9% as compared to last year."
Check the number of places planning to charge £9000
Compare that to last year.
Look at the current cabinet who say " we are all in this together".
Have another look.
http://www.dailymail...thy-Tories.html

[DrRocket]

Cap, on 4 February 2012 - 12:26 AM, said:

We will have to see if the trend continues. I'd like to see physics gain recognition as more than just something for hopelessly academic types.

Good luck. That is likely to require a significant change in perspective on the part of both students and industry, and such a broad-based change can take a lot of time.

A real problem is the lack of appreciation in industry for BS and MS degrees in the sciences, and the simple fact that academic departments in the sciences are geared to prepare students for the PhD -- programs are tailored for the hopelessly academic types.

This ought not be surprising. While there are certainly good career paths for PhDs, it is not a degree that anyone in their right mind (this does exclude quite a few degree candidates anyway) pursues for economic reasons. It is simply not a good decision if money is your goal -- the only reason to pursue a PhD is an intrinsic interest in the subject (which is characteristic of "hopelessly academic types").