Is Chemistry back with a bang?

Dr David Gregory Science Correspondent, BBC Midlands Today

All week Midlands Today Science Correspondent David Gregory has been reporting on the state of chemistry, from schools to research labs.

Here David looks back at the week and sees how student numbers are beginning to rise after several years of decline.

"I wish I had a chemistry teacher like Mr Dixon" That is what everyone has been telling me this week.

Neil Dixon teaches at South Bromsgrove High School in Worcestershire and he is the coolest teacher I've ever met.

From the football shirt name and number on the back of his lab coat (I wish I'd thought of that when I was a physicist) to the explosions he produces in the classroom.

This is just one part of the general fight back chemists are leading, after a pretty tough few years when the number of students opting to study the subject at university kept dropping

I have to say I was under the impression that health and safety stopped teachers doing exciting experiments any more. But Neil explained that there is very little that is banned.

In fact, when a health and safety official visited the school he was really excited a teacher was really pushing what can be done in a classroom.

I guess it is easy to forget that the point of health and safety is to make sure we are safe, not to stop us doing things.

Neil has also helped to put together a course for non-chemists teaching chemistry including details of his more explosive demonstrations, which can be found on the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) website.

This is just one part of the general fight back chemists are leading, after a pretty tough few years when the number of students opting to study the subject at university kept dropping.

Course closed

This drop in numbers forced universities to look long and hard at straight chemistry courses, which are expensive to run.

As the head of the RSC, Dr Richard Pike, explained a university will have to find more money for teaching a chemistry student, either from other courses or perhaps from the research budget.

With numbers falling it is no surprise that Coventry University did decide to close its chemistry course.

But, looking at their prospectus you'll still find plenty of degrees like environmental chemistry and forensics (call it the CSI effect) which are now very popular and all chemistry heavy.

It is worth pointing out Coventry still do postgraduate chemistry research and could, if needed, re-open their chemistry course if student numbers keep rising.

And there's the rub, because as Dr Val Cox from Coventry pointed out, one point is not a trend.

'Cinderella' science

In other words, is this upturn in Chemistry student numbers here to stay?

There is no doubt the students I met doing chemistry degrees believed it would equip them to get a better job - and that means paying off those student loans.

But there are problems and the government's approach seems confused.

There is new cash for teaching but the £100m cost of bailing out Rover has come out of the research budget for science this year and that has led to cuts.

Chemistry is often called the Cinderella science, but after this week I think I'm convinced she is back in the spotlight and set to stay there.

You can see David's reports on the Midlands Today website, along with an extended interview with the head of the Royal Society of Chemistry.