It will come as no surprise to chemists that an undergraduate course with 'forensic' in its title has little problem recruiting students. But, according to a recent report published by SEMTA, the sector skills council that represents the interests of science, engineering and manufacturing technologies, you would have a better chance of working as a forensic scientist with a degree in chemistry or some other pure science rather than a degree in forensic science. Overall, the report, Forensic science: implications for higher education 2004, finds that forensic science employers favour recruits with a masters degree in forensic science because these students would have done a BSc in chemistry in the first instance.

The research, which led to the report, was financed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Higher Education Academy Physical Sciences Centre (formerly LTSN, physical sciences), and supported by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). The research was done in response to concerns from employers about the increasing number of forensic science degree courses in relation to the relatively small number of jobs available in the sector. This is particularly worrying in light of the report's findings that over half the students on these courses hope to work in forensics when they graduate. Moreover, with such a diverse range of courses on offer with 'forensic' in the title, employers don't have a clue what skills they can expect from the students. The report finds 'there are over 50 degree programmes and over 350 possible combinations with a forensic element to them'. The content of the degrees varies greatly - similar courses can have very different titles - there is no standardisation, the report states. At one extreme there are the chemistry courses with forensic in the title, which are accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry. At the other extreme there are 'forensic' BSc degrees that have very little science in them, and everything in between.

According to the report, forensic science degrees have attracted many students who would not have otherwise considered higher education. However, the report also states that had a forensic science degree not been available, a significant number would have chosen one of a variety of different science-based degrees. While the report finds that it is in the interest of HEIs to offer these courses, employers doubt whether these programmes are capable of delivering the science skills needed by industry. Other science employers also favour applicants with chemistry or other pure science degrees.

Tina Overton, director of the Higher Education Academy Physical Sciences Centre and lecturer in analytical chemistry at the University of Hull told Education in Chemistry, 'I think if departments are offering chemistry 'with forensic science', that's not a problem. These students are employable as scientists in industry. If they are offering single honours forensic science, they should be very careful how they sell the course to the students. If they encourage the aspirations of these students to become forensic scientists, they could find themselves facing a lot of angry students a few years from now. If they are offering an MChem 'with forensic science', these students have got as good a chance as anybody for getting a job in the field'.