Swan Group - Innovation Policy and Human Capital

thebang

First of all, this was a toss up between the education and economics forum, but I hope it is suitable here

I really liked this collection of articles:

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2008/08/10/story35048.asp

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/innovation/2008/0901/1219875255400.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/innovation/2008/1006/1222959318514.html

This has got me thinking in the last week - what do the members of this forum think of what way innovation policy and education in Ireland is going?

I really agree with the 'rent seeker' concept of this strand of articles (I remember being dismayed when I heard a bright friend of mine saying he was going to become a solicitor.) . This is combined with the fact that so may people have to go abroad to find jobs that really interest them.

I dont really think we recognise natural science courses in particular as being very valuable, in particular to the extent they do in the better unis of the UK and the US.

I think these degree can offer incredible flexibility to students - but we still seem to pressure kids into some very funnelled (ie professional) paths at an early age, where the is no telling of the demand in three or four years time.

At the moment, the only professionals I can see with a resonable propect of guranteed employment are medics.

I hope this does not sound tenous, but sometimes I think this makes our human capital not flexible enought to respond to the sort of system shocks we are experiencing at the moment.

For instance - a lot of people who were hurt in the tech bubble are now re-employed in many different arenas, but when I was going to college, points for computer courses went through the floor and I was told not to touch the area. Looking at the area now, I can see that the course like computer science or electronic engineering could give me valuable and flexible skills, which could be very useful in a lot of arenas and some unforeseen circumstances in the future (I dont know if these people are having difficulty finding work at the mo, but imo they have real transferable skills).

Added to this, how can we be innovative if the best students are, in my opinion, consistently drawn into areas where the professional focus can sometimes limit the potential for creative thinking?

We are not as entreprenurial as like we claim. I dont expect any Irish university to become like Stanford or its ilk too soon, but I would like to think its an ideal we should be aiming for.

What would people like to see changed in the area?

Personally I would like to see kids explicitly not encouraged to do professional courses like medicine, pharmacy, ventinary law etc unless they are 100% sure about them (I heard a rumour once that you have to do placements with a vet in England if you want to apply for a course there).

thebang

By the way I find the idea of any 'profession' (dont read career) very reptitive and boring!