Top-up fees 'generating interest in sciences'

The introduction of top-up fees may have played a vital role in the return to popularity of science, maths and engineering courses at universities.

Professor David Eastwood, head of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, said there had been a "substantial rise" in the number of students opting for the four subjects singled out as vulnerable by ministers three years ago – physics, maths, engineering and chemistry – since the introduction of fees in 2006.

Students were more likely to opt for subjects which could earn them a good living after university now they were having to pay for their education.

Professor Eastwood said the current "economic doldrums" were also having a similar effect, with students opting for courses which would be most valuable for them and "pivotal" in restoring economic fortunes in future. "My guess is what we will see is students continuing in these kinds of subjects which they will see as being valuable when the economy picks up," he said.

Another spin-off was likely to be that more top qualified graduates in the same subject areas will opt to go on to teacher training courses as a result of the economic gloom.

Professor Eastwood was speaking at the launch of a review of the impact of a £350m drive to boost take-up of subjects seen as "strategic but vulnerable". These also include modern foreign languages.

Since its launch in 2005, the number of maths students accepted per year has risen by 12.4 per cent, chemistry by 12.1 per cent and physics by 10.3 per cent. Engineering is also up by 6.4 per cent this year. In modern foreign languages, there was also a rise of 11 per cent.

"Our sense is we have turned the corner," Professor Eastwood said. "This is a powerful story because of the importance of these disciplines to our economy."

Research showed a modern foreign languages student earned an average salary of £26,873 three and a half years after graduation while an engineering student earned £26,006. By contrast, a person on a media studies course would be earning £21,391. However, the richest former graduate would be in medicine, where the average salary was £40,078.

Top-up fees are to be reviewed next year.