At least nine staff in the chemistry department at the University of Leicester would lose their jobs under new proposals that would see chemistry merge with the school of geography, geology and the environment, according to staff in the department.
In total, 23 members of staff in the school of chemistry will be assessed to ensure that their research aligns with the new school, with a decision to be made by the 17 December. Those whose research falls out of scope will be put under threat of redundancy, with individual consultations to be carried out in the new year.
This is not the only chemistry department merger to be proposed this year. In October, Cardiff University confirmed that it would merge its schools of chemistry, earth and environmental sciences, and physics and astronomy to make a new school of physical and environmental sciences.
We had to reimagine how we deliver chemistry going forward to make it more financially viable
Inorganic chemist, University of Leicester
The changes also reflect a pattern of uncertainty for UK chemistry departments over the past couple of years as universities face significant financial pressures. Earlier this year the University of Bradford announced it was closing its chemistry courses, and last year, closures were announced at the University of Hull and Aston.
At the beginning of June, the University of Leicester announced it had entered a four-week period of ‘pre-change engagement’ to ‘secure its long-term future’. This early stage of the consultation process allows staff and stakeholders to share feedback and ideas on proposals across several academic areas including chemistry, film studies, geography, geology and the environment, history and modern languages. The university reported an £8.3 million financial black hole for the 2023–2024 academic year.
Staff told to reimagine chemistry’s delivery
According to staff in the school of chemistry, the original reason given for the subject’s inclusion in this consultation was that home student numbers were too low. ‘The premise of that was management had looked at home student income and that was below an arbitrary threshold and we had to reimagine how we deliver chemistry going forward to make it more financially viable,’ an inorganic chemist in the department, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Chemistry World.
I think this plan they put forward is essentially … a slow death
Physical chemist, University of Leicester
Staff consequently went away to come up with a case for the future of the department. ‘[This included] ideas on how to increase student numbers through new programmes, new bespoke models of teaching and also savings that could be made by implementing sustainable practises within the chemistry building,’ the staff member explains.
However, on 4 November, the department was told that the proposal was ‘not acceptable’ and that instead management were putting forward a new proposal that the school of chemistry be merged with the school of geography, geology and the environment to create a new school of chemical, earth and environmental sciences. The university has claimed that the aim of this is to ‘focus on global challenges such as climate change and clean energy’.
‘We are being, as they call it, dissolved and re-structured, rather than merged, but we’re essentially being merged with another school … and, of course, that’s going to also lead to a reduction in the overall FTE [full-time equivalent],’ the staff member says.
To make the FTE saving required as part of the proposal, Chemistry World has been told that at least nine members of staff in the chemistry department will need to go. However, in total, 23 staff – all staff with a teaching and research contract in the school – are in the pool of employees that could be at risk and will be assessed to make sure their research aligns with the focus of the new school. Two research themes in chemistry that have been identified as not aligning are synthesis and catalysis, and environment and society.
‘All 23 will be assessed for research alignment, and if people don’t align, then they’ll be put under the threat of redundancy,’ the staff member – who is one of the 23 due to be assessed – explains. ‘[So] … it could be worse than the nine, unfortunately.’
‘That would leave us in a very hard position to continue to deliver what we’re delivering; it’s basically asking us to do more with less.’
Shrinking staff, expanding student numbers
A physical chemist in the department, who also asked to remain anonymous, explains that currently the chemistry department is only made up of 26.3 FTE. ‘We said, “Well, okay, if you get rid of nine, that’s reducing us by a third? What’s the plan for teaching and everything?” and they said, “Oh, well, all that will carry on, we’ll have to just muddle through”,’ they say.
‘We’ve got record recruitment in the UK [and] we’ve expanded our Chinese programmes. In a couple of years, when they’re all full and at maturity, [we’re going to have] 800 students out in China, plus an MSc programme, plus over 300 students in the UK, which is well over 1000 students in total. There’s literally no way we can deliver that with 18 FTE staff.’
‘Even when you consider that some of those students get taught by people other than chemists at various stages of their courses, that would make our student–staff ratio well over 30, by far the highest in the sector.’
The inorganic chemist says there are ‘a lot of things that could go wrong’. ‘Apart from burnout … I don’t think there’ll be as much of an appetite for undergraduates or future students to come to a university where they’re not being taught by research intensive staff … [but] when we asked management about what student recruitment [is] going to look like in this new school, they didn’t have an answer to that.’
The physical chemist says that without the school of chemistry as a separate entity, students may think there’s no longer a chemistry department at the university and decide to go somewhere that does have one.
‘Then your recruitment tanks, and [the university] says, “Oh well, we tried … but clearly you’re still not attracting students”. So, then it has to close fully. So, I think this plan they put forward is essentially … a slow death.’
Leicester University and College Union (UCU) will be carrying out strike action between 10–21 November. Around 90% of the academic staff in the chemistry department are in the union and, therefore, the majority are striking, with limited teaching going on.
However, the physical chemist says the students are ‘really understanding’. ‘We know our students really well – we like them, they like us – and I think they’re very sympathetic. We have a lot of students out yesterday at a national rally. They had a meeting with the college dean about what’s going to happen to them and had some very robust conversations.
‘It’s not great for them … it’s our biggest intake for a long time, and the first few weeks of term were strike action.’
Toby Underwood, head of professional standards at the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), says that, in addition to engaging with developments at the University of Leicester through its members, the RSC had been communicating with decision-makers, including both central government and local MPs. ‘We are consistently highlighting the importance of chemistry as a subject to stakeholders and how – if we wish to achieve ambitions successive governments have stated for the nation – it is imperative that the knowledge, skills and behaviours provided by chemical scientists are maintained,’ he says.
‘While it is somewhat reassuring that chemistry will continue to have a presence at the University of Leicester, we urge caution that the breadth of the subject is not lost, as there are many examples where one branch of the subject supports another and cuts to one area affect far beyond.’
‘It’s also important for me to reassure any RSC members affected personally by any changes that our RSC Careers Management Team and Chemists’ Community Fund are always there to help.’
The University of Leicester told Chemistry World it would not be making any further comment at this stage.
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