CMS Report into ‘Mathematical Sciences: Recruitment and Diversity’

The report was commissioned to follow up observations of trends in recruitment to mathematical sciences degrees by entry requirement level and the report sought to explore the employment outcomes for mathematical sciences students from institutions across the sector.

Among the ten points of its executive summary, the report notes:

1. Overall, the number of acceptances to mathematical sciences degrees fell slightly over the period 2017-2021, but trends differ between institutions according to their entry requirements. Those with the highest entry requirements accepted increasing numbers of entrants. Those with lower entry requirements accepted fewer entrants, with the largest relative declines among institutions with the lowest entry requirements.
2. The proportions of graduates in study, further study and/or employment were very similar for graduates from the most deprived backgrounds and those from the least deprived (88% versus 90%). This is reasonably consistent across different levels of entry requirement.
3. A slightly higher proportion of women graduates were in further study and/or employment than men (92% versus 88%), and this was consistent across different levels of entry requirement. Conversely, a smaller proportion of women graduates were unemployed than men (3% versus 7%); this was also consistent by entry requirement.

CMS envisages that the report will be useful for universities and government policymakers and plans to convene round tables to distil policy recommendations from the report.

The full report can be downloaded from the CMS website.