Royal Society Committee on Science and Technology Education

Participation in Tertiary Science and Technology Education

Background

In 2005 the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ) undertook to collect data on student enrolments for 2004 in first year science and technology papers at New Zealand tertiary Institutions. This 2005 project was a reaction to what was seen as a widely held view that secondary school students were turning away from science and technology courses. Initially it was believed that this drop in science and technology participation was occurring at the year 11-12 transition, the years at which studying science or technology became non-compulsory. However, data from the Ministry of Education proved that this was clearly not the case and participation in science and technology education at these levels was as high as any. Propositions then followed suggesting that this drop in participation occurred at the secondary-tertiary transition. A 2003 RSNZ survey of Wellington senior school students, regarding student participation at school and planned course structure at tertiary level, provided support for this proposition.

The aim of the 2005 project was to provide an accurate indication of the rate of participation within science and technology education at the first year tertiary level in 2004. That project laid the foundation for tracking participation rates in science and technology education over future years. 

2005 Participation

The present undertaking is a continuation and expansion of the 2005 survey. In 2006 RSNZ again collected and collated data on student enrolments for first year science and technology papers at New Zealand Universities. Additionally, the 2006 survey was expanded to include all 200 and 300 level science and technology papers.

A list of all papers that could be considered to fall within the fields of science, technology or mathematics was created using information collected from websites and calendars of New Zealand Universities. The list was then considered by a team consisting of Richard Price, Waikato University; Richard Meylan, Ministry of Research, Science and Technology; and Peter Spratt, RSNZ. Papers that were not research based or oriented in their delivery were removed from the list. Furthermore, special projects, practicum’s and research projects were not included in the final list because the composition of these papers was unclear.

The list of papers was then returned to their respective Universities. The numbers enrolled and the EFTS value for each paper was requested.  At this point, we would like to express our thanks and appreciation for the cooperation of the universities in providing us with their data.

Similar to the 2005 survey the data received were collated into a consistent format and EFTS calculated. All data relate to 2005. The data were grouped into discipline areas and are shown in the following tables. The tables highlight the EFTS value and the total number of students enrolled in each discipline over all universities. The tables also show the EFTS proportion of the total student body at each level studying different science disciplines. For example, of all the students studying 100 level papers, 1476 are enrolled in Anthropology. This represents 208.3149 EFTS and is 0.49% of the total EFTS being studied at the 100 level. Figures 1 to 4 that follow each table represent the proportion of EFTS (by discipline) being studied in graphical format. The data in the last table and graph represents the total student body at undergraduate level. That is it combines 100, 200 and 300 level data.

For simplicity reasons some papers were combined under one generic discipline. Biological Sciences include Genetics and Ecology. Earth Sciences include Geography, Geology and Environmental Sciences. Health Sciences include Optometry, Nursing, Pharmacy, Medical Lab Science, and Sports and Recreation. Ag/Hort/Vet Sciences include Animal Sciences. Finally, Science General includes Applied Science, Management Science, Physical Science and Aviation Studies.

2005 100 Level Data

Table 1: EFTS value, Student Enrolments and EFTS Proportions for 100 level papers

Discipline	EFTS	Student Enrolments	2005 EFTS Proportions
Mathematics	2385.62	16603	5.58%
Biological Sciences	1512.91	11542	3.54%
Chemistry	1139.86	8013	2.67%
Psychology	983.94	6861	2.30%
Physics	909.79	6655	2.13%
Health Sciences	879.65	6724	2.06%
Computer Sciences	796.4	5875	1.86%
Engineering	688.52	6105	1.61%
Earth Sciences	572.56	4394	1.34%
Agriculture/Hort/Vet Sciences	279.63	2206	0.65%
Science General	220.05	2058	0.51%
Anthropology	208.31	1476	0.49%
Architecture	148.56	1405	0.35%
Technology	45.55	329	0.11%
Astronomy	22.63	186	0.05%
Totals	10793.98	80432	25.25%

 

 

 

 

Figure 1: Proportion of All Science and Technology EFTS at 100 level

 

2005 200 Level Data

Table 2: EFTS value, Student Enrolments and EFTS Proportions for 200 level papers

Discipline	EFTS	Student Enrolments	2005 EFTS Proportions
Engineering	1051.67	8644	2.91%
Biological Sciences	991.01	6907	2.74%
Mathematics	932.53	6784	2.58%
Health Sciences	755.96	5106	2.09%
Psychology	696.15	4602	1.92%
Computer Sciences	450.93	3329	1.25%
Chemistry	428.36	2975	1.18%
Earth Sciences	308.6	2326	0.85%
Agriculture/Hort/Vet Sciences	237.65	1789	0.66%
Architecture	173.29	1369	0.48%
Physics	157.33	1251	0.43%
Technology	123.97	904	0.34%
Science General	103.6	834	0.29%
Antrhopology	22.72	159	0.06%
Totals	6433.77	46979	17.78%

 

 

 

Figure 2: Proportion of All Science and Technology EFTS at 200 level

 

2005 300 Level Data

Table 3: EFTS value, Student Enrolments and EFTS Proportions for 300 Level Papers

Discipline	EFTS	Student Enrolments	2005 EFTS Proportions
Engineering	718.4	6775	2.35%
Biological Sciences	634.92	4228	2.07%
Psychology	480.64	3068	1.57%
Health Sciences	456.32	3337	1.49%
Mathematics	362.46	2522	1.18%
Computer Sciences	350.66	2474	1.15%
Earth Sciences	262.64	1987	0.86%
Chemistry	214.75	1469	0.70%
Agriculture/Hort/Vet Sciences	165.36	1185	0.54%
Architecture	137.16	840	0.45%
Technology	94.75	684	0.31%
Physics	83.19	648	0.27%
Science General	58.5	462	0.19%
Anthropology	8.57	60	0.03%
Totals	4028.32	29739	13.16%

 

 

 

Figure 3: Proportion of All Science and Technology EFTS at 300 level

 

2005 Overall Data

Table 4: EFTS value, Student Enrolments and EFTS Proportions over all levels

Discipline	EFTS	Student Enrolments	2005 EFTS Proportions
Mathematics	3680.61	25909	3.36%
Biological Science	3138.84	22677	2.86%
Engineering	2458.6	21524	2.24%
Psychology	2160.73	14531	1.97%
Health Sciences	2091.93	15167	1.91%
Chemistry	1782.98	12457	1.63%
Computer Sciences	1597.99	11678	1.46%
Physics	1150.31	8554	1.05%
Earth Sciences	1143.8	8707	1.04%
Agriculture/Hort/Vet Sciences	682.63	5180	0.62%
Architecture	459.81	3614	0.42%
Science General	382.15	3354	0.35%
Technology	264.27	1917	0.24%
Anthropology	239.61	1695	0.22%
Astronomy	23.52	195	0.02%
Totals	21257.78	157159	19.39%

 

 

Figure 4: Proportion of Science and Technology EFTS Over All Levels

 

2004-2005 Data Comparison

In 2004 there were 99396 students enrolled in papers relating to science and technology. In 2005 enrolments in science and technology amounted to 80432 students. This represents a 19 percent decrease in the number of students enrolled in 100 level science and technology papers at New Zealand Universities.

In 2004 there were 11498.88 EFTS being studied in 100 level science and technology papers. In 2005 the equivalent EFTS value was 10793.98. This equates to a 6 percent decrease in the number of science and technology EFTS being studied at New Zealand Universities.

As can be seen from the above information, in 2005 there were 19 percent less students enrolled in science and technology papers than there were in 2004. However, there is only a -6 percent difference in the amount of EFTS being studied from 2004 to 2005. The difference found between the decreased enrolment data and the decreased EFTS data for 2005 could be attributed to a higher proportion of 2005 students studying for full year relative to the proportion of those studying full time in 2004. In other words, it may be that there are less students studying in 2005 but more of those students are studying for a full year, representing more EFTS resulting in the disparity between the data.

Figure 5 below represents the trends in the data over the last two years. As can be seen from figure 5 there are notable decreases in Mathematics and Computer Science. All other disciplines have made relatively minor increases or decreases. The decline in participation rates in Mathematics and Computer Science may indicate that students are choosing to study these disciplines at institutions other than Universities, for example IT Specialists. Alternatively, this may indicate that students who would otherwise study Mathematics or Computer Science are choosing to enter the workforce immediately after leaving secondary school. Further research is required to determine the reasons behind this decrease in participation.   

2004-2005 Data

Table 5: Data for 2004 to 2005

Discipline	2004 Student Enrolments	2005 Student Enrolments	2004 EFTS	2005 EFTS	2004 EFTS Proportion	2005 EFTS Proportions
Mathematics	28171	16603	3430.44	2385.62	8.50%	5.58%
Biological Sciences	13622	11542	13622	1512.91	3.05%	3.54%
Chemistry	7371	8013	790.42	1139.86	1.96%	2.67%
Psychology	8051	6861	1011.95	983.94	2.51%	2.30%
Physics	5950	6655	645.82	909.79	1.60%	2.13%
Health Sciences	7697	6724	1057.76	879.65	2.62%	2.06%
Computer Sciences	14559	5875	1680.67	796.40	4.17%	1.86%
Engineering	5729	6105	635.71	688.52	1.58%	1.61%
Earth Sciences	2933	4394	367.59	572.56	0.91%	1.34%
Agriculture/Hort/Vet	3662	2206	451.62	279.63	1.12%	0.65%
Architecture	935	1405	97.46	148.56	0.24%	0.35%
Technology	589	329	77.95	45.55	0.19%	0.11%
Astronomy	127	186	20.93	22.63	0.05%	0.05%
Science General	N/A	2058	N/A	220.05	N/A	0.51%
Anthropology	N/A	1476	N/A	208.31	N/A	0.49%
Totals	99396	80432	11497.88	10793.99	28.50%	25.25%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 5: EFTS Proportions from 2004 to 2005