The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

UK launches science scholarships

Importing expertise

Cloud based data management

The government has announced a new science scholarship scheme, backed by £100m, to attract top scientists to work in the UK, the BBC reports.

The Rhodes-type scholarship comes in an atmosphere of increasing concern for the future of science in the UK. The numbers of students taking science subjects at university has failed to keep step with the increases in other disciplines, and as money follows student numbers, many science departments are at risk of closure.

This month, Reading University announced that its physics department will no longer be accepting new students, and will be shut down no later than 2010.

However, the government argues that the scheme will raise the profile of British science.

Trade secretary, Alistair "eyebrows" Darling, is to say: "Science has been one of Britain's best-kept secrets. I want to change that. To be the best you need to work with the best. This new scheme aims to attract the best in science to Britain. It will push our world class science base further and help give us a business edge."

The Department for Trade and Industry points to the success of a similar scheme in Germany, the Humbholt Foundation. That scheme has produced over 20,000 scientists and 35 Nobel Prize winners, the DTI added.

The British scheme will be run by the Royal Society. ®

SaaS data loss: The problem you didn’t know you had

More from The Register

New material enables 1,000-meter super-skyscrapers
Before you read on, see if you can guess how the new stuff will be used
Boffins build headless robo-kitties
Soft kitty, warm kitty, cuddly little ball of wire kitty
 breaking news
Latest NASA ASTRONAUT class is HALF FEMALE
Newbie 'nauts include lady Marine fighter pilot, male doctor
 breaking news
You've seen the Large Hadron Collider. Now comes the HUGE Hadron Collider
International Linear Collider ready to rock and roll
Boffins find evidence Atlantic Ocean has started closing
'Embryonic subduction zone' that flattened Lisbon headed for Blighty
Google launches broadband balloons, radio astronomy frets
A careless Loon could blind the square kilometre array
Hubble spies unlikely planet being born in hostile neighborhood
Hoovering a cloud of sand 7.5 billion miles from a tiny star
 breaking news
Jaguar to open new car-making factory in Blighty (virtually)
Britain still makes stuff, it's just not real any more...
 breaking news
Spin doctors brazenly fiddle with tiny bits in front of the neighbours
Quantum computer address bus just nanometres wide
 breaking news
China's second woman 'naut blasts off for coupling in HEAVEN
Wang and pals test the cosmic waters for Chinese space station