Intake is curbed, with a bias against humanities and "softer" subjects that tend to favour poorer students.
Now they also woo psychologists and sociologists to teach softer subjects such as leadership and organisational behaviour.
NBC has struggled to find an audience for the fourth hour of "Today," which emphasizes softer subjects like fashion and shopping.
She offers an elegant tribute to the mislabelled "softer" subjects and their power to explore the past, present and future by decoding a "complex and rapidly shifting world".
Earlier this month, reporting on Ms. Gifford's potential hiring, Jacques Steinberg reported that NBC "has struggled to find an audience for the fourth hour of 'Today,' which emphasizes softer subjects like fashion and shopping".
"I think that it [physics] is perceived as... not conferring incremental benefit in the modern workplace, ie that students might prefer to do softer subjects and still get the same jobs at the end".
CNN -- acknowledged to be the last holdout among the major news networks in veering toward softer subjects -- would increase its focus on entertainment and technology, health and fitness, he said.
While he has yet to do commercials, the bread and butter of many documentary makers, Mr. Gibney has taken on softer subjects as works for hire, as he did with the Kesey film ("The Magic Bus") and the Lance Armstrong bio.
Ofqual also highlighted a move this year away from so-called softer subjects such as A-level general studies and GCSE citizenship courses, with schools and pupils choosing more traditional academic courses, with increases in the number of entries for English, maths and the sciences at GCSE and A-level.
[C8.] Emphasis on Hard News Returns In the aftermath of the attacks, news executives who had talked about veering toward softer subjects sound as if the events of Sept. 11 had shaken them from a daze in which their focus was lost.
