Chemical reaction

Epigram 17 January 2005 (Issue 166)
http://www.epigram.org.uk/view.php?id=292

Failing departments being axed across the country.

Exeter University is to stop teaching chemistry following a Senate decision to close the department next year. Bristol may take students left in the lurch by the decision.

The move aims to cut an annual budget deficit of £4.5 million and could mean up to 130 job losses. For the 350 undergraduate students enrolled on the course, of more immediate concern is how and where they are going to complete their degrees. Students gathered for a meeting in December were first informed not by their University, but by a call from ITV asking for their opinions.

Alex Gilbert, a second year chemistry student, was left "fuming" over the handling of the decision. "We have been treated with disdain and disrespect. We don't know who's going to teach us or what's going to happen." Staff and postgraduates are likely to take legal action against the university, while many first year students may drop out and re-apply to new universities for next year. Sir Harry Kroto, a Nobel Prize winner, has returned his honourary degree to the university in protest.

For those who decide to continue (the university is legally bound to teach the full course), guest lecturers could be brought in to teach, but laboratory practicals represent a major problem. Students are being offered up to £2,000 to transfer to other universities to finish their studies, but many are understandably reluctant to do so.

Chemistry students at Bristol can rest assured that the same will not be happening here. "The department is going from strength to strength and has the full support of the University." said Professor Orpen, head of the department, adding that "Such closures could be dangerous for UK science, as many jobs depend on chemistry". Bristol's chemistry department was awarded the maximum 5* grade for research in 2001, entitling it to greater funding than lower-rated universities.

Professor Orpen also confirmed that Bristol is in talks with Exeter over the possibility of taking up to thirty students, who would join the second year.

Since 1996, 28 chemistry departments have closed, including King's College, Queen Mary and Swansea. Even Oxford, one of the largest chemistry departments in the world, is suffering financial difficulties. Many blame the Higher Education Funding Council for inappropriate distribution of funds, making it uneconomical to teach expensive subjects like chemistry. The senate also passed a vote to close the music department. Other recent departmental closures include architecture at Cambridge; philosophy, sociology and anthropology at Swansea; maths at Essex and music at Reading.

The debate rages on. Many people feel that while the loss of jobs is regrettable, it could be beneficial to have fewer but better-funded departments, resulting in a higher standard of teaching and research. Whatever the long-term implications of the closure, it seems that government funding of universities, along with universities' own course planning, needs to be reviewed before many more people find themselves out of work and study. In the meantime, staff and students at Exeter face the New Year with uncertainty.