Sir, - The College Choice feature on third-level science courses(The Irish Times, January 28th) quotes HEA figures that 41 per cent ofscience graduates with primary degrees gain employment, while almost 30per cent proceed to further study. In contrast, over 80 per cent ofpostgraduate degree holders are employed. This leads your writer toconclude that "it appears a postgraduate qualification is needed togain the job you want."
I must disagree. For example, CIT statistics for the past five yearsshow that 85 per cent of our B.Sc. (Analytical Chemistry with QualityAssurance) graduates entered employment directly, and 10 per centproceeded to postgraduate study. Perhaps the figures quoted by yourwriter do not include statistics for the institutes of technology, butI feel his rather bald conclusion is wide of the mark.
He believes that "the best-paid jobs in pharmaceuticals are indeveloping drugs through the trial stage", and that some Irishpharmaceutical firms, being involved mainly in production, employmainly "operatives and technicians and pay can be low".
I'm sure the many thousands of employees of the various pharmachemcompanies in the Cork region and elsewhere smiled at that one! At CITwe produce chemistry graduates at certificate, diploma and degree level- the ladder system with which many of your readers will be familiar bynow. Typical average entry-level salaries for chemistry certificategraduates would be about €19,000 a year, around €23,000 for chemistrydiploma graduates, and about €26,000 for chemistry degree graduates.Add shift bonuses, end-of-year bonuses, share options in some instances(yes, even operatives and technicians may get them!), not to mention ahigh level of job security (redundancies in the pharmachem sector arerare), and you have quite a handsome career and remuneration structure.
While media focus on the decline in the numbers studying thephysical sciences is to be welcomed, and the promotion of boththird-level science courses and careers in the science industries isessential if that decline is to be halted and reversed, sweepinggeneralisations can be misleading and may actually do more harm thangood.
We are, after all, trying to encourage students to consider careersin science. Let's try and give them a balanced, complete and accurateview of what lies ahead of them. - Yours, etc.,
Dr JOHN O. WOOD,
Head of Chemistry
Department,
Cork Institute of Technology.