http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/5399346.stm

As someone else I know pointed out - we have more people than ever going to University, but science and engineering departments are struggling to fill their courses up...

Reading has had a Physics department from day dot, and has had some pretty strong ties with milestones in scientific progress - so its a shame to see it go



I don't know about you, but I'm worried that we are all going to end up on the 'B'-ark in a few years time...

A similar thing happened at Sussex Uni last year. They tried to close down the chemistry deparment, but there was such an uproar they decided not to in the end.

I heard that Exeter closed their Chemistry department a couple of years ago - but instead of a staged closure (where students are able to complete their degree but there's no new intake) it was an instant one...

So, all the 2nd and 3rd years moved up to Bristol (about 100 altogether), but Exeter wanted to keep the funding for them...

Yeesh...

I saw a bit of "big business uni" when I was at Reading, but it seems to be getting worse...

I think this will contiune to happen until they bring up the mickey mouse courses (I won't name any but I think you know the ones I mean) to the same level as the proper courses. Right now some of them have a rate of 90% 2:1 and above, while for some maths and science courses it's more like 50%.

I think it's criminal - and they universities don't care because all the courses pay the money so it doesn't matter to them which ones they run.