Nearly 3,000 mathematicians from across the world have joined together via an open letter calling on Cardiff University to reverse its plans to impose compulsory redundancies on its staff in the School of Mathematics. World renowned signatories include 17 Fields Medallists, 2 Nobel Prize winners and more than 50 Fellows of the Royal Society.
Professor Jens Marklof FRS, President of the London Mathematical Society and Chair of CaMS said:
“The response to our letter by the international community, including many of world’s top academics, has been stunning.
“It is very rare for us to send an open letter, but the situation in Cardiff is so dramatic that we saw no other option.
“Cardiff University is facing a significant budget shortfall and also has ambitions to become a global top 100 university.
“But threatening staff in its successful School of Mathematics, which is returning a significant budget surplus and is one of its crown jewels in research, is bizarre. This will not improve Cardiff’s finances nor its global reputation.
“The threat of compulsory redundancy means its best staff will leave first, and the university will struggle to recruit top talent in the future.
“Downsizing its mathematics programmes will also reduce the pipeline of desperately needed mathematics teachers going into Welsh schools.
“The Nobel Laureates, Fields medallists and presidents of the world’s leading mathematics societies who have signed our letter make it clear: without an immediate U-turn, Cardiff University will inflict long-lasting damage to its international reputation, as well as the society it serves.”
As reported by The Times today (see below), the proposals will result in long-lasting damage to Cardiff University, a leading research university in Wales. Specifically:
The undergraduate programmes in mathematics at Cardiff University currently meet their intake targets, and the School of Mathematics returns a significant budget surplus to the University. Cutting a profitable income source in a cost-effective subject area does not make financial sense when there are major budget pressures elsewhere in the institution.
Mathematics is the foundation and fuel of AI (and other current disruptive technologies). Separating mathematical scientists in the proposed new structure is a short-sighted move that will put Cardiff on the back foot in this rapidly developing field.
The proposed reduction in staff in the newly formed Department of Mathematics is so significant that it endangers the sustainability of its undergraduate programmes in the subject. This looks like the beginning of the end of pure and applied mathematics research and teaching at Cardiff.
The number of mathematics programmes offered by Welsh universities has dropped significantly in recent years. Cardiff University has a key role in safeguarding the pipeline of talent into STEM subjects. There is a major shortage of mathematics teachers in Welsh schools, and Cardiff has a unique opportunity to expand its teacher training programme, in both languages, within its existing mathematics degrees.
The threat of compulsory redundancies at a highly respected and research-active mathematics department has caused shock and disbelief in the international scientific community. These plans will cause long-lasting damage to the reputation of Cardiff University and risk a drop in its UK and global league table positions. The institution will lose its top researchers first and struggle to attract the brightest talent in the future.
The scale of planned redundancies at a Russell Group university will furthermore have significant negative impact on the wider higher education sector and limit the sector’s ability to attract the best international researchers to work and live in the UK.
