SCOTLAND'S only living Nobel Prize winner has warned that student loans and low government spending on education are combining to create a crisis for the country's scientific development.
Sir James Black, best known for developing beta-blockers, fears that not enough students are being encouraged to study science.
"If there isn't more funding, it will be very bad news for what we [scientists] do, " Black told the Sunday Herald in advance of his participation in a National Science Week event in Glasgow tomorrow.
"Learning and teaching and research and education are what define a civilisation.
These things must be properly and publicly funded. It's not an option for a country to say, 'We're spending enough'. If we want university graduates, we need to pay for them."
The son of a colliery manager, Black had to borrow money to finance his studies at the University of St Andrews. He then moved to Singapore to work as a lecturer to pay off his debt. He was awarded the 1988 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his contribution to the development of angina and migraine drugs. He is emeritus professor of analytical pharmacology at King's College London and chancellor of the University of Dundee.
Black is worried that the massive debt students face is a further deterrent to the study of science. He said: "Chemistry courses, for example, are expensive and difficult and there has been a reduction in demand.
"Universities are in a desperate financial situation and this has been exaggerated recently by the political decision to greatly increase the proportion of young people going to universities.
"I have no problem with that; my only problem is you have to be able to fund it properly. I cannot stand to see young people leave university with a load of debt."
Black also believes that something needs to be done to attract more inspirational teachers to the industry.
"I worry that we might not be recruiting the same quality of staff to teach these difficult subjects, and therefore not switching students on to the topics, " he said.
King's College was forced to close its chemistry department over a year ago due to lack of interest from potential students. Exeter, Hull, Kent and Queen Mary, University of London soon followed suit, and at the end of last year, Dundee University closed its division of physical and inorganic chemistry with the loss of academic and support staff. The Royal Society of Chemistry has warned that, by 2010, there may be just six of the current 40 UK chemistry departments remaining.
Black describes this situation as "desperately serious". "Not to teach chemistry in the physical sciences is like not teaching anatomy to medical students.
It's pretty fundamental.
"One university can't just say: 'I have to stop chemistry departments because I can't afford to keep them going.'
Implicitly, what they're saying is they are passing the responsibility to some other university to do the training. You can't rely on somebody else to train our scientists."
As recently as 1996/7, chemistry students in the UK outnumbered media studies students by three to one. But by 2003 there were more media than chemistry students.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Executive said: "We are very much aware of the need for Scotland to be fully competitive in attracting and retaining high-quality scientists and researchers. We are committed to ensuring that Scotland's pupils get the best science education.
"That is why, in addition to funding commitments [spending will increase by 23-per cent from 2004/05], we are working with Scottish Higher Education Funding Council and partners to tackle these issues.
National Science Week runs until March 20. Sir James Black is speaking at Science Goes Shopping, at Princes Square, Glasgow, from 11am to 3pm tomorrow
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