University physics departments are fearing closure or job cuts

A QUARTER of UK university physics department heads fear their units will be shut down within the next two years due to financial pressures, a survey has found.

- 

In a survey by the Institute of Physics (IOP), most university physics heads of departments (84%) said they were facing financial challenges or had done so recently.

Eight department heads (27%) said they expected to face possible closure within the next two years.

More than four in five (83%) expected there to be staff cuts within the next two years, and 60% were anticipating degree courses closing in their department.

IOP president Sir Keith Burnett, former vice chancellor at the University of Sheffield and former chair of physics at the University of Oxford, said: "Just when we most need physics graduates, researchers and innovators, the foundations of this ecosystem are under the most severe threat.