New Competences for Physics Graduates Fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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2. Introduction Physics education aims to produce graduates who are able to contribute to economic growth through technological innovation as well as through advancing scientific understanding. In particular, physics plays a vital role in our responses to the major challenges facing the world such as climate‐change, electrical energy production and new technology for health care. Good physics education is the bedrock of a technologically advanced economy and is vital for producing the highly trained workforce that Europe needs. And yet, in many European countries physics is not well appreciated by young people and there are still serious shortages of well‐trained physics teachers and professionals. Physics university education should better prepare students for the new needs of society and for present and future economic challenges. The Horizons in Physics Education (HOPE) project sought to investigate the underlying factors in all of the above and to make recommendations to improve physics education so that new demands and requirements are met and to suggest ways to improve the production of well‐trained physicists. The increasing dominance of physics across a range of business and industries is a strength, but one which is dependent on the scale of the scientific base. The creation of a skilled physics workforce has a number of linked elements ‐ inspiring physics teaching by properly qualified teachers must take place in schools, school leavers must decide to study physics at university, physics students must be trained in skills that make them widely employable, and there must be an awareness of physics and its contribution to society among the general public. The HOPE network itself was the de facto successor to the Thematic Network EUPEN (European Physics Education Network) (1996/2003) and the subsequent projects, STEPS (Stakeholders Tune European Physics Studies) (2005/08) and STEPS TWO (2008/11). Among other activities, these investigated new teaching methods and student centred learning, graduate skills sought by industry, physics teacher training and their low numbers in some countries, and novel degree courses. One of the aims of WG2 was to re‐examine the physics competences set some 10 years ago by the Tuning Project in the light of recent changes in economic circumstances with extra emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship competences. Indeed, the ‘Tuning Project’, which started in the year 2000 and to which the above Physics Networks contributed via the Physics Group in Tuning, included an emphasis on competences as a key aspect of its methodology. HOPE was designed to capitalise on the previous success and concentrate on the heart of the problem ‐ the physics student ‐ via inspiration in schools, recruitment to university and competences for employment. HOPE’s ultimate goal has been to enhance the impact of physics on the European economy and its visibility and consequence in society in general. Since the project was promoted by its 4
network of over 70 academic institutions, there were four interlinked aims comprising the basis of the work programme: Working Group 1: Inspiring Young People to Study Physics Working Group 2: New Competences for Physics Graduates – Fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurship Working Group 3: Improvements in Physics Teaching – Meeting Future Global Challenges in Physics Higher Education Working Group 4: Improvements in the Training and Supply of Physics School Teachers. The focus of this report is upon the activities of Working Group 2: New Competences for Physics Graduates – Fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which had the aim: “To recommend ways by which physics degrees can be enhanced so that the competences of graduates enable them better to contribute more effectively to new needs of the European economy and society, particularly through innovation and entrepreneurship.” One of the primary activities of Working Group 2 (hereafter WG2) was thus to assess if there exists a gap between the competences and skills acquired by physics graduates at university and the competences and skills that are more important in industry or any workplace outside of academia and teaching. Those physics graduates going on to further study or research were not the focus for this work, even though the competences and skills that were researched are also important for them. The second key activity objective was to explore whether there exist any new or emerging competences required in order to prepare physics graduates for the workplace outside of research, and to explore the perceptions and attitudes of physics departments towards these. Here, a particular emphasis was upon obtaining information, including examples of current practice from physics departments on the specific innovation, entrepreneurship and enterprise competences that they include in the educational experiences and learning opportunities offered to their physics students. The approach adopted by WG2 involved the collection of data from project partners and the dissemination of examples of good practice from work and activities already underway by partners and relating to: (a) The application of new physics knowledge and technology transfer to the market economy; 5
Page 1 and 2: New Competences for Physics Graduat
Page 3: 1. Executive Summary A. Aims and Ob
Page 7 and 8: 3. Activities of WG2 The first meet
Page 9 and 10: Appendix 2 contains a list of talks
Page 11 and 12: The questionnaires aimed to highlig
Page 13 and 14: epresented and the country distribu
Page 15 and 16: Alumni in Industry Figure 2. The im
Page 17 and 18: acquisition of skills that contribu
Page 19 and 20: C. Questions on Entrepreneurial Com
Page 21 and 22: Figure 1: Who delivers enterprise/e
Page 23 and 24: In physics programs competences lik
Page 25 and 26: Commercial and entrepreneurial skil
Page 27 and 28: A European wide navette‐study on
Page 29 and 30: 10. APPENDICES Appendix 1. List of
Page 31 and 32: (ii) Session: Physics Studies in an
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New Competences for Physics Graduates Fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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