Mr. Joe Cunningham:

Some combination of maths, physics and applied maths is very important. Chemistry and biology are also important and I do not discount them. It is a case of allowing second-level students to participate in a process where they learn to think in order that they will go to university with their minds open to thinking for themselves. They can then progress from college into the industry where that thinking will be used. The great thing about maths and physics is not so much the specific knowledge one learns but rather the fact that one must solve problems, think about systems and the way things work. That is what we want in our industries. Software and programming, knowing Java, for example, are fundamental, but it is also vital to understand a complicated system, whether it be text messaging, how a gas system works, for example, and applying this knowledge to software. We need to have people who can think about problems in a lateral fashion and apply software methods to solve them.