Universities are pushing out too many lawyers and commerce graduates and not enough engineers, scientists and mathematicians, according to a report by the Business Council of Australia.


The report has recommended a path of increased co-operation between business and universities to try to address severe imbalances developing in Australia's skills pool.

 

The chair of BCA's Education, Skills and Innovation Task Force, KPMG chairman Michael Andrew, said that Australia had to put "greater emphasis on teaching outcomes to make sure that what they are teaching is relevant to the future workplace".

 

"You only have to look at what is happening with our shortage of engineers or metallurgists to see that something went wrong within the system in terms of rewards and encouragement that is in place, not being able to predict that trend that is becoming so evident in the skill shortages across those segments."

 

The BCA members have expressed interest in developing stronger ties with universities and developing more scholarship programs that better aligns the skills shortage with the graduate courses on offered.

 

Mr Dougas said part of the problem stems from a shift in Australia's workplace from one where government's traditional involvement in the development of technical skills in the infrastructure and extractive industries was now falling on the private sector.

 

"The way infrastructure is put together now, governments have, of necessity, downsized," he told the forum.

 

"You have seen a shift from the public to the private sector in terms of numbers employed . . . the profession has to replace what . . . the government did in terms of scholarships and career development."

 

Further information is available from www.bca.com.au