Want more science? Pay better salaries

Sir: Why does the CBI wail for the Government to pay science undergraduates £1,000 a year in order to encourage young people to take the subject? Surely, all it need do instead is publish the figures that show how much more a science student will earn upon graduation than a law, economics, marketing or business administration student.

Except: legal services, £18,900; economics/statistics, £21,414; advertising/marketing, £20,253; management consultancy, £22,450; scientific services, £18,505. (Figures from www.prospects.ac.uk). If the CBI truly wants more scientists, the solution is in its members' own hands: pay scientists more.

PROFESSOR RICHARD A BARTLE
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTING AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX, COLCHESTER