THE School of Politics and seven other closure-threatened departments at Liverpool University have been handed a lifeline, the Daily Post can exclusively reveal.

But they must first convince three tiers of management they have the capacity to improve, beginning with a crunch meeting before the university’s academic committee on Wednesday.

In March, it was revealed the university was considering the closure of its School of Politics and communications studies, philosophy and statistics departments.

The future of five more departments: Latin American studies, cancer studies, dentistry, civil engineering, and sociology and social policy were also in the firing line because the quality of research failed to meet the university’s “exceptional standards”.

The potential loss of the politics department, in particular, was met with widespread anger from students, lecturers and MPs.

But the Daily Post has learned that all eight departments are set to survive.

Each department was tasked with producing an action plan with “clear and measurable targets” to bring its research up to scratch.

The plans must be first approved on Wednesday by the university’s academic committee, which reports on academic affairs and standards.