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| Diary Highlights | 26/08/10 Attended a migration roundtable meeting at the Wellcome Trust
23/08/10 Convened a discussion meeting among industry leaders and representatives from various science and engineering organisations to consider various points on the agenda for a roundtable with David Willetts, the Universities & Science Minister
17/08/10 Met with the Technology Strategy Board
17/08/10 Met with the Science Media Centre
16/08/10 Met with the British Ecological Society
12/08/10 Met with the British Pharmacological Society
12/08/10 Met with the Bioindustry Association
12/08/10 Met with staff from the Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills
11/08/10 Met with staff at the Institute of Fiscal Studies
10/08/10 Met with the Director General for Science and Research, DBIS
04/08/10 Imran Khan and David Hawksett met with the Society of Biology
04/08/10 Met with Dale Bassett Research Director from the think tank REFORM
03/08/10 Met with the Minister for Universities and Skills
03/08/10 Met with the staff of SCORE - the Science Community Representing Education
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Please forward this on to any colleagues or friends you think will be interested.
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GCSE and A-Level Results Announced
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| GCSEs
The number of students taking physics, chemistry and biology GCSEs have increased
almost a third on last year and have doubled from 2007. Overall, 23.7% of students
got an A or A* grade, compared with 48.4% in physics, 48.9% in chemistry and
46.9% in biology, suggesting that many more students could be taking and doing
well in these subjects.
Read
the press release
Read
CaSE comments on Radio 4's World at One
A-Levels
Imran Khan, CaSE Director, is delighted to note that both the
number of entries and the "market share" went up in all of maths,
further maths,
biology, chemistry, and physics A-Levels. He commented: "It's
fantastic that the sustained efforts of pupils and teachers alike
have paid off today... The one cause for concern is that although
the number of girls taking science and maths
at A-level has increased, the number of boys doing so is increasing
even faster - so the
gender gap isn't narrowing."
Read
the press release
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Maintaining public sector investment in science and engineering
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| The Times published a letter by CaSE Director Imran Khan arguing that public investment in science and engineering must be maintained in order to leverage private sector investment in research and development (R&D). The letter was in response to a leading article published
on 10th August in which The Times argued that businesses must do more to invest in R&D.
Read The Times leader August 10th
Read CaSE's letter
Meanwhile our Director, Imran Khan, has been quoted in The Guardian regarding fears that major scientific research facilities will be under threat should the planned 25% cuts to government spending in the sector go ahead. Imran has also been interviewed by Reuters about the threat of aggressive budget cuts to the UK's science base.
Read the Guardian article
Read the Reuters article
The CEO of one of our corporate members, Syngenta, was interviewed by The Times, and CaSE commented on the economic implications. CaSE is continuing to make the economic arguments about the importance of continued investment to Government. |
CaSE News
| | The August issue of CaSE News
has been published. As well as a round-up of recent science and
engineering policy developments, it includes articles on the Comprehensive Spending Review, education reform under the coalition government, and a piece by the new Chair of the Commons Science & Technology Committee Andrew Miller MP.
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Annual Review
| | | CaSE has published its Annual Review for 2009/10. It gives a summary of CaSE's activities over the
year, including meetings with ministers, policy consultations, events
and campaign achievements.
Highlights during the year include:
- Spearheading the 'Science Vote' campaign during the 2010 election
- Advocating the importance of evidence-based policy making in government
- Producing a report investigating the economic impact of R&D on the science and engineering research base
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Labour Leadership Election
| CaSE has been working with Scientists for Labour to ask the candidates for the Labour leadership contest about their science and engineering policies. CaSE has now received responses from David and Ed Miliband and has published these.
Read the responses
Read the blog by Scientists for Labour
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Other issues that CaSE is working on
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- Non-EU Economic Migrants. CaSE attended a roundtable meeting with the UK Border Agency and Migration Advisory Committee, hosted by the Wellcome Trust, and will be responding to the Home Office and Migration Advisory Committee consultations on the proposed cap on migrants. We have also submitted written evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on the issue.
- Reform of the House of Lords. CaSE will be looking at how reform of the House of Lords might impact upon science and engineering policy-making.
- Regional Development Agencies. CaSE is monitoring the cuts to the science and innovation spend by Regional Development Agencies, whose annual spend on science and innovation was £380 million. If any other organisation is working in this area please get in touch.
- Haldane Principle. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will be making a policy statement on the Haldane principle in the autumn - we are seeking to input into this.
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CaSE Blog
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The CaSE blog provides ideas and analysis on science and engineering policy developments in the UK. Recent posts include:
- Ian Haines, UK Deans of Science, on the UK economy and the new parliament
- Alan Hughes, Director of the UK Innovation Research Centre and the Centre for Business Research compares UK and US business-university relations
- CaSE Director Imran Khan on the current funding challenges ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review
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