There is a not entirely popular merger between the university’s departments of environmental sciences and earth and planetary sciences, with possible job losses

EPS supporters wonder if it is wise, given the department’s strong research performance.

Somebody asked Vice Chancellor S Bruce Dowton about it, who replies;

“It is true that EPS has been ranked highly at an individual discipline level as have a number of other disciplines across the university and those achievements are to be applauded.  It is also true that we need to consider the rankings of fields where the university either has large student numbers (several of the business school fields) or is growing student enrolments (computer science, engineering etc.).  Rankings are clearly taken into account when considering any change proposal but they are by no means the only factor … there are several pathways and relevance points for institutional and discipline renown.  With careful consideration, each are valid and none are mutually exclusive.”