With Oli Christie, CEO of Neon Play
As students around the country await GSCE results and A-Level students are now planning for life after school, Justin Tomlinson MP today welcomed the news that more and more students are choosing to study science and maths at A-Level.
Entries for Mathematics and Further-Mathematics at A-Level have increased this year by 3.3% and 7.6% respectively. Physics entries rose by 5%.
Justin Tomlinson MP said “This is extremely encouraging news. If we look to the future for jobs and our economy, our real growth industry is technology and research. Even here in Swindon we have big employers like Intel, where maths and science skills are a must.
“You only have to look at emerging markets, like smartphone and tablet apps, to see the opportunities technology can bring. I work closely with TIGA who represent this industry and what is clear is that developers struggle to find the specialist programming skills in the UK. I recently visited Neon Play, an app developers just outside Swindon and they echoed this. Those with the science and maths qualifications have a real head start when it comes to the growing employment opportunities in this industry.”
Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA said “Time and time again, developers have told us of the importance of maths and physics and it is highly encouraging to see a rise in the number of students taking these subjects at A-Level.
“Many developers continue to emphasise the need for highly skilled programmers, who need to have good degrees or the vocational equivalent in computer science, mathematics, physics, software engineering or games programming.”