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I learnt with joy that Geoffrey Copland had stepped down as chair of the Universities and Colleges Employers' Association. Here was an acknowledgement of the need to rebuild relationships with the staff union.

Then I find that the new chair is Alasdair Smith, the vice-chancellor who wanted to close Sussex University's chemistry department - until he was forced to admit his "mistake". I can understand Sussex wanting to move him to avoid closure of other departments, but isn't closing uni-versities a little ambitious for Ucea?

John Fry

Liverpool University UCU