British universities are relying increasingly on foreign students and academics to prop up the numbers in subject areas that the Government has identified as of strategic importance to the economy, a new academic report suggests.

More than a fifth of students in key subjects such as science and engineering are from overseas, according to the annual trends report from Universities UK.

The numbers of foreign students at postgraduate level are particularly high, making up 71 per cent of taught postgraduate enrolments and 48 per cent on research programmes in some key subjects.

Geoffrey Crossick, of UUK – the umbrella group of university vice-chancellors– said that the dearth of homegrown postgraduate students in strategic studies was forcing institutions to fill posts with foreign academics.

“The concern is that should these people return home, the flow of researchers will dry up and that will cause problems for the UK economy. The important thing for UK universities now is not to have fewer researchers from abroad, but to build up more from the UK,” he said.

Drummond Bone, Vice-Chancellor of Liverpool University, said that while British companies now relied heavily on foreign graduates to fill research posts, there was a danger that the lack of homegrown talent could cause a shortage of teachers of these subjects in schools.

He added that universities needed to work more closely with schools to make students keener to study strategic subjects.

In the past ten years, while overall student numbers have risen by a third, there has been a decline in the numbers who are studying key subjects at every level, including chemistry (which is down by 18 per cent), physics (down by 3 per cent) and most areas of engineering (down by up to 50 per cent).

Over the same period, there has been a big increase in students taking degrees in nontraditional subjects, such as film (up 335 per cent) and psychology (up 113 per cent).

But despite claims from universities, politicians and business groups that strategic subjects are vital to the economy, the study also found fewer graduates in these subjects were finding jobs.

While 6.6 per cent of graduates in 2005 were unable to get jobs, the figure for graduates in strategic subjects was 8.4 per cent.

The report also revealed that women comprised 55 per cent of students in Britain’s universities, confirming their dominance over men in academic study.

Professor Crossick, Warden of Goldsmiths, University of London, said that the figures raised serious concerns that many boys and young men were being left behind by an education system that played to the strengths of girls and undervalued the achievements of boys.

“This is an issue across all developed countries and it is very worrying for young men, who don’t feel valued in the higher education system,” he added. He said that universities needed to work more closely with schools to persuade more young men to take degrees.

Times recommends

• Parents face rise in independent school fees
• Crisis in primary school places causes councils to cut back other services
• Labour fails working class on education