Lancaster is seeking to recruit up to 25 new staff, including a head of department, in order to launch a new undergraduate degree in chemistry in 2013. It will also establish a research-led MChem degree programme.

The move comes 12 years after Lancaster closed its old Department of Chemistry.

It says in a statement released today that the decision in 1999 was made at a time when chemistry departments were being closed across the UK.

¡°However, the numbers of young people taking chemistry at A-level has increased significantly in the last eight years and the numbers of applications to study chemistry at university are also increasing,¡± it adds.

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It says that its decision has been driven by a desire to ¡°recruit additional strong science students, both from the UK and abroad, in a market where the numbers of applications to study chemistry in research-led universities are increasing¡±.

The university already has researchers working in such fields as environmental chemistry, nuclear chemistry, physical chemistry for nanoscience and biological chemistry within biophotonics. It is also developing a chemical engineering programme.

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Mary Smyth, dean of the faculty of science and technology, said: ¡°Chemistry, in selected areas, will enhance our ability to address major scientific problems, to respond to calls for cross-disciplinary projects from research councils and others, to bring in industry research funds, to attract strong science students in a range of areas, and to offer new and exciting international relationships, both for teaching and research.¡±

Robert Parker, chief executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: ¡°This news will be greeted enthusiastically by everybody at the RSC and in the wider chemistry community around the country.

¡°The resurgence of chemistry at Lancaster, with its excellent reputation for innovation, provides yet more evidence of the dramatic return of chemistry¡¯s popularity nationally.¡±

john.gill@tsleducation.com