03 December 2004
Charles Clarke has moved to protect degree courses of 'national strategic importance' in the wake of Exeter University's controversial decision to scrap its chemistry department.
The education secretary has written to the Higher Education Funding Council for England asking whether the funding regime needs reform to stop certain subjects disappearing.
The letter was sent to HEFCE chair David Young on December 1, after Exeter said it could no longer afford to teach chemistry because of the way funding is determined.
Clarke has identified five subject groups that need to be safeguarded. These are: science and engineering; Eastern European studies; Japanese and Chinese; Middle Eastern studies; and vocational courses relating to economic growth areas.
But Clarke said that no extra resources would be made available to ease financial pressures. Nor would he intervene to save any department threatened with closure.
'Higher education institutions are autonomous bodies. We cannot force them to keep courses open or to offer courses of a particular length or type,' Clarke said.
PFdec2004
