Statistics at Birmingham.

The University of Birmingham has had a long and glorious tradition in Statistics. Faculty members have included Henry Daniels, famous for his work on the saddlepoint approximation, John Copas, and Tony Lawrance, amongst others. Chris Jones was a postdoc there. Students have included Peter McCullagh and David Hinkley, as well as yours truly from 1981 to 1987, first as an undergraduate, and then as a PhD student.

In the early 2000's, the powers that be in Birmingham decided to get rid of statistics. There are no statistics professors left there, and no statistics program. It is still possible to get an undergraduate degree with a small amount of statistics in it. This deplorable state of affairs is due to some short sighted administrators focusing on saving money instead of making the University a truly world class institution.

A sad end to a great program.

Ian Harris