Eligible students on the course will be given financial support to cover their fees, as well as a maintenance grant exceeding 7000 for the year. Students spend one semester at each of the universities, then undertake an industrial placement over the summer. Further details about the course, including application materials, are available at the Heriot-Watt website. Scottish Enterprise has set up a steering group aimed at creating a world-class optoelectronics cluster in Scotland which will hopefully lead to special consideration being given to the infrastructure required for both research and development activities, including provision of suitably trained professional scientists. They are focussing on areas such as laser manufacture, optical communications sub- systems, optical device manufacture, and optical packaging.
Telecoms is now the third largest sector of the global economy, behind only healthcare and banking.
The UK Coalition for Photonics and Optics was set up to mirror the USA CPO which has identified optics as a critical enabler of technology in many industries and is particularly concerned about the serious recruitment shortfall in photonics scientists and technologists .