Building on research commissioned by Australia’s Chief Scientist to identify STEM skills shortages, this report critically examines existing solutions to the STEM skills shortage in comparable countries.

This study is part funded by the NCCA and is undertaken by the National Centre as part of its brief to advise on matters related to Science and Mathematics teaching and learning.

This report describes Australian students’ access to and use of computers, raising serious equity issues in the process. It uses results from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 to examine how extensive access to ICT is in schools, homes and other places, how familiar students nearing the end of compulsory education are...

Mathematical research in Australia is becoming increasingly narrowly focused. The number of mathematics and statistics students and lecturers at Australian universities is critically low. At a time when, internationally, the major scientific advances are being made through collaborations between different branches of mathematics and other scientific disciplines, and by countries that invest heavily in mathematical...

This report presents the first internationally comparable results to OECD's 2003 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Survey of the educational performance of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics, and science in 25 OECD countries, including Australia.