There is now only 28 days left to save this unique course. As environmentalists and anti-cuts activists we should all get behind this; it is essentially a case study of all the changes we stand against in the education sector. This is a market in education destroying a valuable course. This articulates in practice all that is wrong about the white paper.

This is a market in education destroying a valuable course. This articulates in practice all that is wrong about the white paper.

This is a course that is; valuable to the UK economy, which is helping conserve the environment and which is a profitable course for the University of Birmingham to run. Yet it is being closed because it does not fit the universities “research profile” because it is not a research intensive department.

Only one other institution in the entire country teaches these skillsl and both of these courses are oversubscribed. These skills are immensely valuable to conservation work and specialists have warned that its closure will lead to a “skills gap”. The Institute for Ecology and Environmental Matters (IEEM) the professional body that represents and supports ecologists and environmental mangers has condemned the closure for this reason.

There is a high demand for graduates from this profitable course and they nearly all go on to work in the sector.  Worse still as pointed by the IEEM in their report “closing the gap”   there is a growing gap in skills in this sector as the government and the EU create more jobs. Both The IEEM and Plantlife  have expressed concerned that this closure means that the demand naturalists with the necessary field skills won’t be met.

I met the students on the course this week and they have an incredible community, are dedicated to the course and are extremely angry. They are right to be angry, this course is perfectly profitable and is being closed as it does not fit in with the universities “business model”.

To summarize the need Biological recording is now widely regarded as vital for biodiversity processes within Britain; this course closure will affect this valuable work. On another level to close such a useful and economically valuable course because it won’t fit in with the “research profile” that a university is trying to create for the market is abhorrent and above all stupid.

Please all sign this petition and spread and share also if you can get any high profile endorsements against the closure that would be great .