National HE STEM programme takes shape

The Universities of Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester Metropolitan, Southampton and Swansea will develop activities to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in their regions as part of the national Higher Education STEM programme. Funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) to the tune of £21m and launched in August 2009, the three-year initiative aims to generate interest in STEM subjects among young people, enhance higher level skills in the workplace and increase accessibility of HE courses in these subjects. The programme will build on the successes of four HEFCE-funded two-year pilot projects, which includes the Chemistry for our future (CFOF) project  managed by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).