Around 90 people, representing a wide spectrum of interest in the chemical sciences in HE, met at the Royal College of Physicians in London on 30 November to discuss ideas for, and give their support to, collaborative projects aimed at making chemistry in HE more sustainable. A range of these projects, expected to be finalised at the end of this month, will form the basis of a bid to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for ca £30m over a five-eight-year period. According to John Rushforth (HEFCE), speaking at the meeting, 'This potential funding reflects HEFCE's commitment to supporting "strategically important and vulnerable" STEM subjects in England' (see Educ. Chem., 2005, 42(6), 142).   

HEFCE, explained Rushforth, will be looking to fund projects that involve partnerships with, for example, Aimhigher, the HE Academy, and Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs), among others. The Council will want strong evidence for any interventions and for long-term planning, and will expect to see a clear framework for monitoring and evaluation as well as appropriate governance and risk management systems in place. A consideration for any regional differences will also be important.   

The one-day 'town hall' meeting, Chemistry for our future, organised jointly by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and HEFCE, attracted representatives from 33 university chemistry departments as well as colleagues from several Sector Skills Councils, the DfES, Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), HEFCE, major pharmaceutical companies and smaller chemical companies, and colleagues from neighbouring scientific disciplines. To start the ball rolling, the delegates were invited to join one of five workshops, the themes of each having been decided by an RSC-led steering group which had met two months earlier (see Educ. Chem., 2005, 42(6), 142). These were: 

• chemistry and employability;   
• strengthening interfaces between schools, colleges, universities and employers; 
• increasing diversity of provision - focusing on foundation degree provision, variety at the bachelors' level, and vocational courses; 
• increasing diversity of provision - focusing on what sort of programmes and laboratory work might be needed in the future to reflect different learning styles and employer needs; and   
• international competitiveness.   

Feedback from the workshops informed the steering group, which met at the end of the day. The final bid submitted to HEFCE is expected to have two phases - a pilot phase requiring ca £5m, followed by the main project requiring ca £25m. According to Tony Ashmore, registrar at the RSC, 'there is likely to be more than one strand within the pilot. Part of it might be an information gathering exercise, the other might involve a small-scale version of a project that, if proved promising, could be done on a larger scale'.   

Feedback 

Feedback from the workshops suggested that the original themes put forward by the steering group were fully supported. Exemplar proposals put forward included: 

• rolling out the Aimhigher: chemistry the next generation  project with HEFCE funding to as many areas of the country as possible; 
• research into why students do or do not study chemistry; what employers both of chemists and of people who happen to have a chemistry degree value; 
• surveys of: first-year university chemistry programmes to find out if they really do build on the skills and knowledge that school and college students bring with them; and of careers advice on offer across the school-university interface by various bodies to see what should be done in addition to what's already being done; 
• projects aimed at building greater differentiation between foundation, bachelors and masters degrees, as well as the development of courses with a 'lighter' chemistry content underpinned by employer needs; 
• projects aimed at looking at the laboratory-based teaching;   
• cpd (continuing professional development) 'enhancement' programmes aimed at biology teachers in secondary schools and colleges who teach chemistry; 
• enhancing practical work in schools and colleges through secondments; 
• how industry might work with HE and the RSC to show that chemistry is a good career option. 

A plethora of ideas came from the workshops. The RSC, specifically its education department, will take a lead on managing the proposals once it has established which projects capture a strong interest and a commitment to sustaining chemistry in HE. Ashmore told Education in Chemistry, 'what we wanted to do here was gather ideas from the chemistry community, and get a measure of people's interest and what they are prepared to do. Some of the ideas are already being pursued, some might be better carried forward by working with other groups. We need to pull all this information together. For this size sum of money, we will also have to come up with a project governance and management structure'.  Kathryn Roberts