Madam, – In reply to Dr Jordan ( July 6th), where he comments on government policy on doubling the number of PhDs in this country and the problems that this is causing, I have to say that I agree with his stance, but to lay the blame on the Government’s doorstep is unfair.
There were already too many PhDs in this country in the 1990s. I know, I was one of them and most had to emigrate in search of scientific employment, until they also found that the world market had too many PhDs. I would lay the blame at the feet of the country’s scientific academics who are fond of having labs full of students doing scientific experiments for them which yield publications, which in academia is what it is all about.
I would say the Government was badly advised by many of these academics, who were really acting in their own interests, when they advised the Government to fund scientific research so excessively, as they knew this would mean more students and hence more publications for them, without any consideration for the public money that was being wasted or indeed what these students would do later in their careers. - Yours, etc,