Chemistry ‘deserts’ threaten to push poorer undergraduates out

The UK is facing a drought. I’m not talking about the paucity of rainfall this summer but the way in which undergraduate chemistry provision across the country is starting to dry up. New chemistry ‘deserts’ are now opening up across the UK, areas where the nearest institute teaching the subject is over an hour away. This development could worsen the problem of falling numbers of chemistry students and hit the poorest in society hardest.