Alarm over loss of vital college courses [UK]

[Ryan]

Here is something worth discussing or getting involved in for you Europeans.

Alarm over loss of vital college courses [UK]
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/12/02/ncours02.xml

Excerpts:
University degree courses of national strategic importance should be protected from closure, Charles Clarke, the Education Secretary, said yesterday.
At the same time, MPs accused ministers of failing to prevent the closure of more than 100 science departments in the past 10 years.
Charles Clarke: universities must make their own decisions
Exeter University's decision to shut its chemistry department was "the climax of a long catalogue of failures" in the way science had been directed, members of the Commons science and technology committee said.
...
To reduce the costs of keeping courses going, he suggested that the council might look into ways of compressing three-year degrees into two, encouraging more distance learning and e-learning and promoting research collaboration between universities.

[Greystead]

The topic on UK university department closures has been getting a lot of air time on TV and radio. The Today Programme on BBC Radio 4, probably the most influential news programme in the UK, has been carrying quite few pieces all this week with interviews with government ministers and university vice-chancellors including this morning Oxford University's Lord Patten.


This is just one of the many links to other sites that can be found highlighting, in this case, the concerns in the medical community.

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=6992

One of the messages coming back from government (and some of the universities concerned) is that the departments are closing due lack of applicants. By that they mean only being over subscribed by 5 potential students for every place rather than 9 or 10.

All is not lost, however, because even though we may be losing high cost departments, market forces are apparently causing an increase other subjects such as Media Studies.

So, in the future if you need major surgery there could be a problem, but if you want a critique of the social relevance of a popular soap opera with your order of fries in McDs, you could be in luck.
:(