Petition The Open, Open University

Our country will be desperately short of Mathematicians, Physicists and Operations Researchers during the next decade. Since there is such little return on investment for these skills these days, this petition is to persuade government to underwrite free 'taster courses' in these subjects and free graduate courses through the Open University. (The Open University should reduce the cost of such courses to no more than £250 per student per year, though their use of prerecorded lectures and computer marked assignments.)

Applicants should be selected only on the basis of their ability to pass the 'taster course', and not previous academic achievement.

Later, depending on the level of successful outcomes, other useful courses can be added, such as Chinese Language and Cold Fusion.

Indeed, any and all courses that will benefit society during the next decade, but provide little return on investment for individuals.