Leader: Declining momentum

Today's report on the state of physics offers a timely reminder that chemistry is not the only embattled science. Indeed, while chemistry has enjoyed some small revival at sixth-form and undergraduate level, only a reclassification of courses has created the same impression for physics.

Without the addition of combined-subject degrees such as the BEd, the decline visible over 20 years would undoubtedly have continued. As the report notes, the closure of physics departments (particularly in former polytechnics) has continued apace.

As in chemistry, most of the difficulties are at school level, where the numbers taking physics in the sixth form have declined consistently.

Initiatives that have succeeded in other areas, such as the moves to encourage more girls to persevere with science, have had little effect on physics. But the concentration of departmental closures in universities with research ratings below grade 5 suggests that, once more, recruitment trends tell only part of the story. In expensive subjects such as physics, research funding is more often the key factor.

The report provides a level of detail and quality of analysis that might have been (but was not) present in the Government's review of vulnerable subjects. There is no easy answer to the long-term slide in the popularity of subjects such as physics, and it may be that the current number of university departments is realistic. But ministers' stated intention to intervene in the higher education market where necessary to safeguard national interest demands close monitoring of this sort.