The UK needs to double the proportion of science and engineering graduates leaving university by 2014 or see skilled jobs go overseas, the CBI warned today at the start of National Science Week.

Around 12% of graduates presently leave university with a science, engineering and technology degree and this needs to rise to at least 25% if the UK is to match the predicted growth in jobs.

The business group says poor school facilities and career advice is holding back the flow of students into university science courses.

At the moment around 45,000 graduates emerge from UK universities with a degree in science, engineering or technology (SET) each year. Based on figures from the Institute of Employment Research on expected growth in SET jobs by 2014, the CBI has calculated that this would need to jump to 97,000 a year just to fill new positions.

John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, said: "Our future success will depend on our ability to compete not only with our traditional international rivals but new ones too, particularly India and China. These two emerging giants are producing hundreds of thousands of engineers and scientists a year, all ready to fight for a slice of the pie in business sectors which the UK has traditionally done so well in.”