The number of UK university courses in several core science subjects has dropped in the past five years, stoking fears that ministers’ efforts to use technology industries to boost economic growth risk being undermined.
Undergraduate degrees offered in chemistry have fallen more than a quarter and biosciences by almost 15 per cent since the 2019-20 academic year, according to Financial Times analysis of data from the Office for Students, the sector regulator.
While the decline partly reflects consolidation and reclassification of subjects, it has stoked concerns that the UK will be short of researchers as new technologies such as artificial intelligence drive a revolution in scientific discovery.