The University of Bradford is closing its chemistry courses and, from September 2025, will no longer be accepting new students. Chemistry World understand that the laboratory scientist degree apprenticeship with a chemical science focus will also be discontinued. Bradford was one of only a handful of training providers offering this apprenticeship.
The news continues a trend of redundancies and departmental and course closures at UK universities over the past year, amid ongoing financial uncertainty. Earlier this year, Cardiff University announced plans to merge its chemistry department with two other schools and to reduce the number of chemistry staff by five, while the University of East Anglia announced proposed cuts, including 22 from the faculty of science.
And, last year, Aston University and the University of Hull announced they would be closing down their chemistry courses.
‘Like many UK universities, we are facing significant financial challenges and need to make at least £13 million in savings,’ a University of Bradford spokesperson told Chemistry World.‘We are reviewing every area of the university to reduce costs and create a more efficient and sustainable organisation, while still providing outstanding student experience and world-leading research.’
Chemistry at the University of Bradford falls under the school of chemistry and biosciences. However, the university confirmed that it would continue to take new students in biomedical sciences and other programmes in that school and that it was just the chemistry programmes that had been closed.
The spokesperson was unable to comment on how many members of staff might face redundancy.
As part of this process, the university said it had reviewed subject areas which had attracted few students in recent years, such as chemistry, and assessed them as financially unviable. ‘We are fully committed to supporting current students to complete their courses as intended and are doing everything we can to support staff at this challenging time,’ the spokesperson added.
Responding to the news, Toby Underwood, head of professional standards at the Royal Society of Chemistry, said the society was ‘deeply disappointed’, adding that it was a ‘significant blow’ for the chemical sciences in general but for degree apprenticeships, in particular. ‘Bradford’s decision means the number of providers offering science degree apprenticeships across the UK is now alarmingly low and geographically unsustainable,’ he says.
‘Given that the number of students on degree apprenticeships at Bradford outstripped full-time students in recent years, this department’s closure would be a lost opportunity,’ Underwood says. ‘The reduction of institutions offering science degree apprenticeships means employers will be starved of potential training providers and would-be apprentices will have fewer opportunities or have to travel large distances.’
Underwood highlights that Bradford has a ‘proud history’ of teaching students from minority ethnic backgrounds and that the absence of a high-quality chemistry programme in the city could prove ‘detrimental’ to diversity in the sector.
He adds that, at a time when the UK economy needs more young people capable of making an impact in growth industries, it was ‘saddening’ to see such severe cuts that will affect a sector with ‘demonstrable promise’.
‘Research for our Future Workforce and Educational Pathways report, published earlier this year, shows that the growth of jobs in chemistry is expected to outstrip that of the wider UK workforce by 30% over the next decade,’ he says. ‘Add in the fact that the chemical sciences are eight times more likely to look for green skills than the UK average and it’s clear that our sector has a significant part to play in the country’s future. However, the chemical sciences can only make these positive long-term contributions if there are enough young people to fill them and that requires a variety of pathways into the industry.’
‘We recognise universities up and down the country are facing incredibly difficult financial decisions, but we hope that Bradford reconsiders this decision,’ says Underwood. ’The cutting of entire departments will have long-term ramifications for our economy and society at large.’
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