Educating a New Generation of Young Scientists and Engineers

Lord Sainsbury will look at how well the young scientists and engineers being produced by the U.K.’s education and training system match the need the U.K. has for world-class skills to enable it to compete in the new global economy. His talk will cover the supply of graduates in science and technology, looking at both the total number of students and the decline in certain key subjects. His talk will also cover the position at ‘A’ level, and the action which the Government should be taking in order to improve the situation in areas such as the supply of qualified teachers, careers advice and the co-ordination of the many schemes to encourage young people to take up science and technology subjects at school and university. Finally, Lord Sainsbury will consider the area where the U.K. education and training system has been most deficient in the past, the supply of technician skills, and will highlight the key features that a world-class vocational system should have and which are lacking in the U.K.; a well understood system of qualifications which delivers in the marketplace, qualifications based on a mix of knowledge and practical skills, an effective system of funding, and qualified teachers and up-to-date facilities.

This year's speaker is Lord Sainsbury of Turville, David Sainsbury became Lord Sainsbury of Turville in October, 1997. After reading History and Psychology at King's College, Cambridge, Lord Sainsbury joined J. Sainsbury plc in 1963. He received an M.B.A. from the Columbia Graduate School of Business in New York in 1971. Lord Sainsbury was Finance Director of J. Sainsburys plc from 1973 - 1990, Deputy Chairman from 1988 - 1992, and Chairman from 1992 - 1998. He was appointed Minister of Science and Innovation from July 1998 until November 2006, and had responsibility for the Office of Science and Technology, Innovation, Space, the Bioscience and Chemical Industries and the Patent Office. Lord Sainsbury is an Honorary Fellow of King’s College Cambridge and in 2003 received, on behalf of the Sainsbury family, the Andrew Carnegie medal for philanthropy.