Education for operational research

The paper debates the requirements of education for operational research (O.R.). It is assumed that the objective of O.R. is to secure improvement in social systems by means of scientific methods. It is argued that the programme of learning and the methods of teaching should converge to this end. There is a brief review of what some of those who are responsible for courses in operational research at universities have said about their aims and curricula. The confusion over aims and the imbalance between the rational account of O.R. and the empirical approach is briefly discussed. There follows a plea for an effort to describe the structure of O.R. and the need for a taxonomy from which a better understanding of the educational problems may emerge. The essay concludes by asserting that the climate, nature and content of research especially in the universities should be such as to attract men of great talent and hopefully a few men of genius who will advance the subject to the status of a major science.