A House of Lords committee has warned that the precarity of academic careers is exacerbating the UK’s growing skills gap in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Peers also urged the government to extend the post-study work visa, as well as introducing a remote working visa to help address shortages.
The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee wrote to George Freeman, the science minister, to urge the government to act on its ambition of becoming a “science superpower”.
It says that the UK’s skills gap is long-running and there is a mismatch between the scale of the problem and the “inadequate and piecemeal” solutions – including the postgraduate “new deal” for researchers – currently on offer.
