munich

The number of new physics graduates in Germany is expected to fall by almost two-thirds in the next five to six years, according to the German Conference of Physics Faculties (KFP).

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Figures show exact sciences falling from favour.

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Konrad Kleinknecht, a spokesman for the KFP, warns that the decreased output will be well below the demands of industry and research. Gerhard Soff, vice-dean of the physical faculty of the University of Dresden, says university research could be in danger, as financing is linked to student numbers.

The news closely follows a similar fall in enrolment in chemistry courses (see Nature 388, 707; 1997), although general student numbers will have fallen by only 10 per cent.

Concern over employment prospects and the German phenomenon of Technologiefeindlichkeit(aversion to technology) are the most widely cited reasons for this.

The closing of the former East Germany's Academy of Sciences in 1990 threw many physicists and chemists out of work, against a background of world recession and loss of business for companies supplying military contractors after the end of the cold war.

Recently the situation has changed. “Graduates are practically snatched away from universities at the moment,” says Kleinknecht. Industry needs young physicists in traditional areas such as semiconductor technology and optics, as well as in new fields such as information technology and software design, he says. Management consulting and insurance companies are employing growing numbers of graduates. But, he adds, scepticism about new technologies is keeping many talented young people from choosing physics.

Bernd Fischer, a personnel officer at Siemens, reflects a widespread feeling among physics professors and in industry that school teaching is excessively influenced by “the 1968 generation of teachers”, who are not interested in science.

Ten scientific societies in Germany have formally requested science ministries in the 16 Länder (states) to take steps to increase and improve the teaching of mathematics and natural sciences at high schools, and to ensure that more pro-science teachers are employed.

The KFP is optimistic that campaigns can influence public opinion. The fact that biology has not lost popularity is at least partly ascribed to an energetic government campaign to promote biotechnology.

But Josef Langer, general secretary of the German University Rectors Conference, points out that disproportionate falls in student numbers in physics or chemistry are not unique to Germany. “The trend has already been observed in other northern European countries,” he says. These include Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands.

A recent internal European Commission report notes the low status of science in some countries, but says the causes of falling enrolments are complex and “need a much deeper socio-cultural study”. It says that education ministries, teachers and the media should work to improve the image of the natural sciences by emphasizing their positive effects on society.