Science labs threatened
Martin Wood building
Deficits totalling more than a million pounds are threatening jobs and laboratory space in Oxford’s Physics and Chemistry departments. The departments, both of which are among the largest and most prestigious in the world for teaching and research, have been asked to make cutbacks to reduce the scale of the funding crisis.
Graham Richards, the chairman of Chemistry at Oxford, confirmed that one building would be closed, blaming an increase in the ‘space charge’ imposed by the university, as well as lab running costs. In addition, spokespersons for both departments have refused to rule out the possibility of redundancies.
Further measures being considered to combat the situation include making research groups, the teaching faculty, and all other users pay for services such as mechanical workshops and other technical services that have been free to them in the past. Richards attributed the problem to rising administration costs and the allocation of funding, telling The Oxford Student: “The way the university is run has changed.
He pointed out that one of the major sources of university funding is through administration charges on earning departments. “The university is able to get money through external research grants, but if libraries and museums in the centre need money, they aren’t able to earn it, which means that they are essentially funded by administrative charges on earning departments such as physics and chemistry.
“However, we are also exploring the possibilities of getting larger research grants, which will increase our income as we are able to keep all the money we need to cover our overheads.” Simon Fowler, the senior administrator for physics played down the effects of the problem on undergraduates, highlighting the importance of maintaining standards.
“The fundamental aim of this review is to maintain our standards of teaching and research… in other words we must do nothing to reduce our RAE or teaching scores.” In order to do this he implied that a reassessment of necessary facilities would take place. “We are in the process of reviewing all our activities to ensure that the work and services we provide are those required, as opposed to ‘nice to haves’.
This was echoed by a University spokesperson who emphasised that emergency funding provided by the university was a temporary measure. “This is only to provide additional support whilst the department undertakes a full review of all aspects of its operation to ensure maximum cost efficiency.
All sources agreed the problem was in many respects a national one, with the university spokesperson attributing the financial difficulties to, “a long period of underfunding of teaching and research… that is a daily fact of life for institutions across the higher education sector.” In 2004 science departments at both Newcastle and Exeter were forced to close due to lack of funds
19th May 2005