APPENDIX 60
Memorandum from the Chemical Industries
Association
SUMMARY
The Chemical Industries Association (CIA) is
seriously concerned by the threatened closure of chemistry departments
in the UK, as they are a vital source of trained manpower for
the UK chemical manufacturing and research base. The CIA believes
a rational, and perhaps radical, realignment of funding for chemistry
is required within UK universities, as chemistry departments possessing
greater critical mass in research, teaching, training and/or technology
transfer are needed to meet evolving societal and business needs.
Greater emphasis needs to be given to creating
well-funded and world-class centres of excellence for UK chemistry
concentrating on both pure and applied research as well as on
the delivery of competent and skilled scientists.
The CIA also believes that special emphasis
must continue on supporting chemistry departments in their development
of practical skills for the successful integration of trained
graduates into analytical services and R&D laboratories in
industry.
INTRODUCTION
The CIA welcomes this opportunity to present
written evidence on this very important issue, which the industry
believes is vital to its future success. This evidence seeks to
support, from the chemical industry's perspective, evidence submitted
by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
With turnover of £50 billion, the chemical
industry is one of the UK's largest manufacturing industries.
Over the last decade it grew almost three times faster than the
average for all industry. It is manufacturing's number one exporter,
with an annual trade surplus of £5.6 billion; it spends £2
billion a year on new capital investment and 10% of its sales
on research and development. It contributes approximately £5
billion in tax every year.
Skills are vital to the chemical industry, as
indeed they are for all of the chemistry-using industries, underpinning
everything that we do. The 2001 DTI Chemicals Innovation and Growth
Team report identified a sharp decline in the number of students
studying chemistry and the chemical sciences. For industries that
rely on innovation to deliver value-added, this is of real concern.
The decline in students is impacting directly on university chemistry
courses leading to a shortage of graduates. The CIA believes that
UK industries that rely on their ability to do chemistry will
not be sustainable without them—who else is going to develop
the innovative products and processes needed to ensure our industries'
future?
The chemical industry is truly global and the
majority of UK businesses are either foreign owned or have significant
operations overseas. Companies make strategic decisions every
day on where to place their business globally. A key element to
this decision-making is the local availability of skills, chemistry
and chemical engineering graduates being of prime consideration.
The closure of chemistry departments, potentially leading to a
reduction in the overall UK skills base, may therefore have a
direct affect on UK PLC's bottom line with jobs and revenue moving
abroad. We believe this has already begun to happen.
Society also benefits significantly from scientifically
trained individuals that have the ability to draw informed conclusions
when presented with often complex and conflicting evidence, for
example when considering the GMO debate and Nanotechnology. This
is becoming more and more important as the industry continually
needs to justify its licence to operate in today's society.
INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE
IN SUPPORT
OF THE
RSC EVIDENCE
The impact of HEFCE's research funding formulae
as applied to Research Assessment Exercise ratings, on the financial
viability of university science departments
We do not have a view on the closure of individual
chemistry departments; we believe that is a matter for individual
universities. We do have strong views on, and are very concerned
by the overall process that has led this to happen. The need for
chemistry teaching to be cross-subsidised by chemistry research
is totally unsustainable in today's cost conscious university
sector. The UK needs a sustainable chemistry teaching structure,
financially independent from research with each student attracting
sufficient funding to cover the cost of his or her tuition.
The optimal balance between teaching and research
provision in universities, giving particular consideration to
the desirability and financial viability of teaching-only science
departments
Chemistry is a practical, research-based subject.
The chemical industry requires graduates that not only understand
the basic fundamentals of chemistry but also have experience working
in a research environment. The two go hand-in-hand and we believe
that neither a teaching only department nor a research only department
would equip graduates and postgraduates with the skills that industry
needs. However, it should be possible for departments to be excellent
at teaching chemistry and be financially viable, without also
needing to be world class at research.
The importance of maintaining a regional capacity
in university science teaching and research
The lack of maintenance of regional capacity
in university science teaching and research is already having
a significant affect on areas of the chemical industry. For example,
some CIA member companies are unable to find suitable universities
in their local vicinity with whom they can undertake collaborative
innovation or to whom they can send their staff for training.
This increases the cost and inconvenience of undertaking such
activities, putting barriers in the way of workforce up-skilling
and innovation.
January 2005
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