Indian youths vow for science

BANGALORE: Lenovo announced the results of the 2011 Global Student Science and Technology Outlook, a multi-country survey that concluded students in emerging countries —India, Mexico and Russia —are prioritising and pursuing science-related careers over students in developed countries, including Canada, Japan, the U.K. and the US. While virtually all 89 percent of the respondents agreed that science is cool, only slightly more than half overall are considering pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering or math.When asked if given the opportunity would they prefer to take a trip to the moon or anyplace on earth, almost 43 percent in total chose the moon, out of which 62 percent of students in India polled said they would gear up for the ride, followed by 47 percent of those in the UK.“It is heartening to see the spirit of Indian youth through this survey. The results are eye-opening in calling attention to the differences in how students around the world view science as a career aspiration,” said Shailendra Katyal, director, marketing, Lenovo India. The survey further revealed that students in India ranked highest at 82 percent for those who believe it’s very important for their country to lead the world in science, closely followed by students in Mexico and Russia (81 and 78 percent, respectively). In contrast, students in the US, Japan and Canada and the UK trailed at 7,360 and 55 percent respectively.When compared to the arts, students in Mexico at 82 percent and India at 74 percent topped the list, saying that science is more important than fields such as literature, music and theatre. Interestingly, Russia was the only country where the majority of students (57 percent) believed the arts were more valuable. The contrast between students in emerging and developed countries becomes more obvious when students are asked if their country has enough scientists and whether this influences their career choice. While the majority of students (73 percent) say yes, with 65 percent of them saying this motivates them to pursue a science-related career. This belief factored into the decisions of more than 80 percent of students in India, 75 percent in Mexico and 57 percent in Russia to pursue a science-related career. The study’s most encouraging finding reveals that a vast majority of students say science is cool, however, only a slight majority responded that they intend to pursue a science .and STEM-related career.