Thoughts on The Life Science Conundrum

The life sciences conundrum
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/147445.asp
After the hype, grads now realise that there's no place for them in the industry

According to the industry's annual reviews compiled by A*Star and the Economic Development Board's Biomedical Sciences Group (EDB BMSG), an average of a thousand new jobs were created annually for the past five years. Last year, there were 10,200 manufacturing jobs in the industry, almost doubling the 5,700 jobs created in the then-fledgling sector in 2001. By 2015, EDB targets the number of such jobs to hit 15,000.
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But the booming figures mask a Catch-22 situation: The current shortage of PhD holders in the biomedical sciences cluster is hampering Singapore's bid to attract multinational companies to move their high-end research projects here. Without a PhD, most of Singapore's life sciences graduates are only qualified to work as research assistants.
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And both graduates and diploma holders vie for these positions that could pay less than $2,000 a month. In the industry's manufacturing sector, life sciences graduates compete against their peers from other general sciences and engineering disciplines. They face even stiffer competition in the sales sector, where paper qualifications take on less significance.
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A*Star's Biomedical Research Council oversees and coordinates public sector biomedical research and development activities. On the surplus of life sciences graduates, its executive director Dr Beh Swan Gin told Today: "It is not a situation that can be easily communicated, as there are many factors involved. Simply put, a PhD is essential for progress as a researcher. And there are still not enough Singaporeans pursuing PhD studies."
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Adding that the local universities should not pander to the students' demand for the subject, Dr Beh said: "The job market of today and tomorrow, is the market the universities should focus on. The manufacturing and commercial jobs have always been there, albeit there are more of these now. NUS (National University of Singapore) and NTU (Nanyang Technological University) should get better data on the demand for life science graduates at the Bachelor's degree level

I'm not sure what exactly what to make of it, but it strikes me as somewhat ironic that PM Lee made this statement yesterday.

"It was a leap of faith into the unknown when we took the infocomm plunge in 1981. The lesson from the last 25 years is that we must continue to track closely the changes around us and respond promptly when opportunities emerge. By the time a trend becomes obvious to everyone, we may have already missed the train."

Yes there is some truth in that, the beginner's advantage of leading the pack is important, but we should also consider that making statements like that will make people anxious and jump on to the train headed for "The Next Big Thing". Something which happened some years ago with all the hype surrounding life sciences. Should we fault the government for promoting the life sciences?

I think at some level, it is only fair that the government let the people know that it is planning to grow the life sciences industry. There needs to be a sizeable pool of suitably educated grads if we are to become a biomedical hub. If jobs are going to be created in the industry, I would think it is only fair to let Singaporeans know of such an opportunity. We know that the market conditions do change, but in Singapore the government still has a large say in the economic developments, rather than say that they should adopt a hands-off approach, by not telling Singaporeans what areas they intend to develop, I'll rather that they disclose their plans in full detail so that people can make an informed choice.

Perhaps the situation is complex and there are many factors that come into play. If more information is shared between the government and the local universities and media, students may have more knowledge on which to base their decisions. When did the government realise that investors are not coming in due to the lack of PhD holders? When did they realise that they are not attracting these people in sufficient numbers? When did the universities realise that the enrollment for life sciences was too high? How were the job prospects for life science grads communicated to them? Did they know that having a BSc is not enough and a PhD is required? How were these pieces of info shared and communicated between the government, universities and the media?

If the government and the universities think something is wrong, they perhaps they should make a strong statement in the press to quell these false perspectives (I can only remember Phillip Yeo's test tube washing statement, which I think was hardly enough as it in itself was controversial, how you put a point across is sometimes as important as what the point is). Yes, ultimately it is a personal decision, but these decisions should be made under conditions where known information is made readily available the students. The constant ramming of the life science hype down our throats, I don't think that's it.