The University of Hull has confirmed it will close its chemistry department, saying that it is ‘no longer financially or educationally sustainable’.
Over the past year, a number of UK universities have drawn up plans to close chemistry courses or entire departments. In February, Aston University announced plans to close its BSc chemistry courses. Meanwhile the University of Reading said last week that it had decided to keep the department of chemistry open ‘for the time being’, having previously told staff that the department would likely close in 2025.
‘In common with most universities, we are not exempt from the significant challenges faced by the higher education sector,’ the University of Hull said in a statement. ‘We need to ensure we have the right programmes, the right course design and the right teaching methods in place in line with student demand.’
The university said that after a period of consultation ‘including thoughtful and meaningful engagement from colleagues and trade union representatives’ the university senate and council had agreed a set of proposals that would contribute to maintaining the university’s financial sustainability. These include merging the faculty of arts, cultures and education and the faculty of business, law and politics, and ‘the closure of the chemistry academic area’.
‘This is because student demand and numbers within the chemistry academic area are so low that these courses are no longer financially or educationally sustainable,’ the university noted. ‘We tried to reverse the position over a number of years with no success, despite the subject at Hull having a strong reputation and league table position.’
It added that the university would continue teaching chemistry where the subject forms part of other programmes, such as chemical engineering, biochemistry and medicine.
In September, a member of staff in the chemistry department, who did not want to be named, told Chemistry World there had been several issues leading up to the proposed closure.
‘We’ve not done well with the student number cap being removed, that’s hit us really hard – other places have expanded and we haven’t,’ they explained.
Earlier in the year, the department was asked to prepare proposals for a reinvigorated set of programmes that would be more attractive to prospective students. However, the staff member said that these proposals were ‘ignored’ and soon after the university decided to cancel two MSc chemistry programmes that recruit significant numbers of overseas students.
According to the staff member, chemistry students were told that their teaching was assured for one year only, meaning teaching of undergraduate chemistry for all programmes would stop at the end of the academic year 24/25, leaving some students unable to finish their degree courses.
The university declined to respond to specific questions from Chemistry World regarding the future of students and staff.
Correction: This story was updated on 3 December 2024 to clarify Aston University’s planned course closures.
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