MORE British science graduates now choose to go into the lucrative world of finance than into industry, figures released last week show.
The data, published by the Universities鈥� Statistical Record (USR), show that a higher proportion of physical sciences graduates enter 鈥渃ommerce鈥� 鈥� which includes banking, accountancy, marketing, stockbroking and law 鈥� than enter industry.
In 1988/9, almost half of all physical sciences graduates went into industry, but this proportion had fallen to 34 per cent in 1993/4. By contrast, the 28 per cent going into commercial jobs five years ago has since swollen to 37 per cent.
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鈥淲e are not in the business of explaining why this might be so, says Cynthia Holme of the USR, which is being wound up this week to make way for the newly created Higher Education Statistics Agency.
鈥淏ut from a personal point of view, I think it鈥檚 a matter of concern,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 probably reflecting the trend that we don鈥檛 make things any more, we just market what other people make.鈥�