The future of STEM in higher education: HEA discussion paper

The future of STEM education is a topic of national scrutiny and debate. The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee (HLSTC) recently completed an inquiry (HLSTC, 2012)1, in response to the United Kingdom’s (U.K.) government’s ‘Plan for Growth’ (2011)2 and reports from the Council for Industry and Higher Education (CIHE)3, and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI)4. The HLSTC’s synthesis of these reports and the subsequent emerging discourse highlight a number of key concerns, and pose a number of salient questions of higher education (H.E.) STEM providers, which will be considered in this discussion paper.