... bursaries a must

Students should get bursaries towards the cost of the degrees that are most useful to the economy, business leaders said this week.

Ahead of the announcement of this year's A-level results, the CBI called for a "golden carrot" bursary of £1,000 a year for all science and engineering graduates as part of a plan to double the proportion of students taking the subjects.

Richard Lambert, director general, said "urgent action" was needed to address the long-term decline in the number of students studying physics, chemistry and engineering because businesses were already struggling to fill posts. The plan would cost the Government £200 million a year.