President of the International Mathematical Union Joins in Plea for USQ to Rethink Decision to Sack 12 Maths, Stats and CT Academics. (April 29, 2007)

László Lovász is professor in the Department of Computer Science of the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. He was elected president of the International Mathematical Union in 2007.

With permission, TFW publishes in full the letter sent by him to the vice-chancellor of the University of Southern Queensland urging him to reconsider the intention of the university to retrench 12 of the 27 academics in the mathematics,  statistics and computer technology disciplines.

________________________________________________________________

To: Professor Bill Lovegrove,
Vice Chancellor and President of USQ
Date: Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 4:43 AM

Dear Professor Lovegrove:

I am writing you as the President of the International Mathematical Union (http://www.mathunion.org).

At the meeting of the Executive Committee of our Union, we discussed the situation of mathematics in Australia in connection with the plan of the University of Southern Queensland to seriously reduce the size of the mathematics faculty and eliminate the undergraduate major in mathematics.

The Executive Committee wishes to express its concern with these developments. The importance of mathematical methods is growing fast in a vast array of areas, from computing to economics to urban planning to environment protection, and in most countries in the world we experience a rapidly increasing demand for the technical, yet universal, skills that mathematical education provides.

We would like to urge the University of Southern Queensland to carefully consider the general trends and weigh financial gains against the long term benefits of a training in mathematics that goes beyond the material offered in service courses. A research and education community is easy to destroy but difficult to build up.

Sincerely yours,

László Lovász

President of the IMU

Cc:
Hon. Julia Gillard, MP, Prime Minister and Minister for Education
Hon. Anna Bligh, MP, Premier of Queensland
Hon. Rod Welford, MP, Minister for Education and the Arts. Queensland
Professor Kurt Lambeck, President, Australian Academy of Science
Ms. Bobbie Brazil, Chancellor of USQ