AN INFLUENTIAL group of MPs is to accuse the University of Liverpool of a “knee-jerk reaction” in axing four departments, when they hold an evidence session in the city next week.
The shock proposed closures of the politics, communications, philosophy and statistics courses is expected to dominate a hearing organised by a top-level Commons committee.
Professor Jon Saunders, the University of Liverpool’s deputy vice-chancellor, is among witnesses to give evidence to the all-party innovation, universities, science and skills committee.
The MPs will also grill Professor Michael Brown, vice-chancellor at Liverpool John Moores University, which – just days later – revealed it was axing 33 degrees.
Phil Willis, the committee’s Liberal Democrat chairman, said many universities were being forced into difficult decisions because of a funding squeeze outside favoured areas such as science and medical research.
And he suggested the closures at the University of Liverpool might be motivated by a desire to boost research in other departments – rather than simply cost-cutting.