ABSTRACT
The position of science and technology (S&T) in a society changes through time and from one society to another. In developing countries, many young people would like to opt for a career in S&T, whereas many rich, highly developed countries notice declining recruitment of students to science and technology studies. “Europe needs more scientists!” is the title of the final report from a large EU project addressing the condition of science and technology in the EU, which gives special attention to the number of people entering S&T educations and careers (EU, 2004). The title of the report reveals the point: falling recruitment to most S&T educations is seen as a big problem in most European countries. The same tendencies are noted in the US (NSB, 2008) and in most other OECD-countries. There is a great political concern about the decline in S&T recruitment in nearly all OECD countries (OECD 2006).
