Careers in Science and Technology An International Perspective (1995) / Chapter Skim
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PART I MONITORING CAREER TRENDS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
PART I MONITORING CAREER TRENDS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Pages 7-38
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PART I Monitoring Career Trends in Science and Technology
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, while that by Hajime Nagahama offers a closer look at the organization of studies that have been undertaken in Japan to monitor the development of that workforce. Together, both papers illustrate the challenges that lie ahead in any international effort to gauge the stocks and flows of scientists and engineers.
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CAREERS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE · What can we do about the paucity of data on S&T employment and careers? We need the data if we want to pursue the "planning" route.
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The concentration is particularly strong In North Amenca. The United States and Canada together, with 6 percent of the world population, have some 30 percent of the world' s S&T labor force.
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S&T personnel data have been gathered on an ad hoc basis over the years, on the occasion of specific policy studies, such as those of the "brain-drain" in the 12 interest In Saul personnel measurement has, however, remained unchanged, with jealous reference to work in the United States and the impressive and well-known data series issued in the National Science Foundation's Science and Engineering Indicators volumes. A first attempt to remedy the lack of S&T personnel data was undertaken at the OECD in the early 1980s.
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Since the birth rate propensities of these social classes appear to have decreased at a lower pace than that of the overall population, the expected reductions in the number of young people entering higher education have been considerably moderated. THE INCREASING ROLE OF WOI\dEN IN S&T The expected fall in student numbers has also been compensated by continued increases in overall enrollment rates, largely explained by the growing participation of women (in some countries also ethnic minorities, students from abroad, and mature students)
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Considerable reductions in defense spending are currently envisaged in all OECD countries. This will necessarily have a bearing on their needs for S&T/R&D personnel and may result in serious cuts in this labor force and, if not properly channeled, in loss of vital skills, at least until more civil-oriented employment 14 THE OECD S&T MANUALS The TEP report regretted the lack of accurate statistical tools for a better policy understanding of the human capital situation, and in 1991 the Scientific, Technological, and Industrial Indicators Division (STIID)
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National considerations prevail over international comparisons. Only some of the largest countries undertake systematic efforts of modeling (defined as the use of formal mathematical models for long term projections)
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(The) blunder of economically active qualified manpower comprises the total number of persons with the necessary qualifications for personnel in categories "scientists and engineers" and "technicians" who are engaged in, or actively seeking work in, some branch of the economy at a given reference date.
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The R&D statistics manual, which to some extent serves as a model for the HRST manual, recommends the inclusion of the natural sciences and engineering, including the agricultural and medical sciences, on the one hand, and the social sciences and humanities on the other. In his draft manual, Dr.
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S&T PERSONNEL VARIABLES OF POLICY Ideally, we should like to have gross data for all the arrows and boxes of the stock and flow chart, each cross-classified with detailed breakdowns by, for instance, type of personnel, occupation, sector of employment, educational background, broad or detailed field of qualification, gender, age, nationality, etc. In practice, all this would be too ambitious; it would be exceedingly difficult to handle such a multidimensional matnx, and, once again, the more detail, He more difficult the international comparability!
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This is a direct consequence of increased interest in human capital resources and constitutes the necessary linkage between the Frascati manual on R&D and the new manual under development for the measurement of total stocks and flows of S&T personnel. COMPATIBILITY WITH INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATIONS For all these breakdowns, internationally adopted classifications should be used, such as I3NESCO's International Standard Classification of Education aSCED)
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was founded in July 1988 as an organization within the Science and Technology Agency. NISTEP analyzes the increasingly complex and diverse circumstances surrounding science and technology (S&T)
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In recent years many excellent university graduates in the scientific and engineenug fields have decided to worI; in the banking and insurance industries and not in manufactunug industries. Aware of the decline of scientific and engineenug facilities in Japanese universities, people anticipate new policies aimed at promoting personnel in advanced and basic science and engineering fields.
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6 1981 10= 1~? 1S ~1~1 Research on careers and professional activities of scientific and technology personnel Research on trends of S&T careers through S&T award · Research on choice of field by university applicants and employment trends of science and engineering graduates Research on science and engineering doctorates in Japan The Japanese S&T indicator system Next, I will talk about the simple summary of respective studies belonging to the above themes.
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Research on Careers and Professional Activities of Scientific and Technology Personnel The 2nd Policy-Oriented Research Group published a report Public Attitudes on Science arm Technology: Based on Opinion Survey Results (NISTEP Report No.
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. Since 1990, NISTEP has participated in an international comparative study of Public Understanding of Science and Technology.3 NISTEP organized an international symposium on public understanding of S&T and science and mathematics education in Tokyo in October 1992 in cooperation win the International Council Group of the above international comparative study.
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16, The Interchange of Researchers and Engineers between Japan and Other Countries: Study based on Annual Report of Statistics on Legal Migrants, Statistics on Foreigners Staying in Japan, and Annual Report of Statistics on Japanese Nationals Overseas.
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The results of this study will be published by the end of 1993. Research on Choice of Field by University Applicants and Employment Trends of Science and Engineering Graduates Three NISTEP reports and one seminar report were published in this group.
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24, How the Information on Science and Technology Activities Should Be Sent to Younger Generabons Based on the Analysis of ~e High School Students' At:titudes Toward Career Selection and Science and Technology. FIGURE X Model of information flow on youth's career selection and science and technology activities.
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receptivity towards fruits of StT + 13.6% ~ ~ SAVAGES IN A: i CRAZED SOCIETY) \g TYPE ,/ ~19.7% Of LAZED PEOP~: \: TYPE i/ NOBLE SAVAGES TYPE 12.3% ~12.8% REFORMISTS TYPE to to o c SOURCE: NISTEP Seminar Report No.
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7, Quantitative Comparison of Science and Engineering Doctorates in Japan and the United States. FIGURE 12 Comparison of science and engineering human resource supply structure in Japan and the United States.
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Although the gap between Japan and the western world continues to narrow, there are a few fields that are exceptions. These exceptions include the scarcity of doctoral programs in universities and the weakness of an informal public relations system in S&T information (especially in the academic world and the public)
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HAJIME NAGAHA~A NOTES 1. The following chart describes the organization of NISTEP in 1993 Advisers I Director-General SAKAUCHI, Fujio - , 1 | Deputy Director-General | SHIBATA, Jiro Number of Personnel: 46 (Research Personnel: 28)
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We recommend a "Science and Technology Communication Center" as a social infrastructure in which the public and scientists and engineers can participate together in scientific activities and events. Such centers would also function as learning centers (a lifelong education system)
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(4.) Liaison Centers EC: Japan: 2nd Policy-Oriented Research Group, National Institute of Science and Technology Policy USA: Science and Engineering Indicators Program, National Science Foundation and the ICASL, Chicago Academy of Sciences EC Commission DO XII (Brussels)
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1989. Public Attitudes on Science and Engineering: Based on Opinion Survey Results (Japanese and English)
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1991. The Interchange of Researchers and Engineers Between Japan and Over Countries: Study Based on Annual Report of Statistics on Legal Migrants, Statistics on Foreigners Staying in Japan, and Annual Report of Statistics on Japanese Nationals Overseas (Japanese and English)
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It is also my task to examine what other factors should be taken into account when developing information collection procedures that will provide adequate data systems for policymaking concerning human capital resources in S&T.
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Westholm's model of stocks and flows of S&T personnel is undoubtedly a useful starting point in examining these problems. It is underpinned by the UNESCO distinction between We total stock of qualified manpower and the number of economically active qualified manpower (which begs the question: does qualified refer to educational or occupational achievements?
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The studies of public understanding of science, the assessment of the impact of educational policy, and the effectiveness of intervention techniques are all motivated by the need to understand how people come to choose and maintain effective careers in S&T. Of course, such studies are based on quite different types of information from the stock and flow model of Westholm.
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