STAFF at a science museum in Oxford face an uncertain future following a major cut in funding.

The Museum of the History of Science in Broad Street is the only Oxford University museum to have suffered a funding cut in the latest round of grants from the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

The museum holds regular family-friendly drop-in sessions to encourage children to take an interest in science.

There are seven full-time staff and 17 part-time staff, and it is not yet known if any of these posts will be affected by the cut of more than £100,000.

The museum, once the home of the Ashmolean Museum, attracted 175,000 visitors last year.

Museum director Dr Jim Bennett said: “The cut in our funding is very disappointing.

“We've been working extremely hard at the museum to develop our activities and have increased museum attendance tenfold in the past decade.

“For our size, we are an amazingly active museum, both in terms of our public programme, and in increased access to our important collection.

“People in Oxford are always saying to me that they’ve noticed how much the museum has improved in recent times, so we are very sad that this hasn’t been taken into account.”

In the year to July, the museum received a HEFCE grant of £205,916 – 29 per cent of its total income.

But HEFCE has now told the university that the grant to the museum for the coming year will be cut to £100,000.

The funding body implemented the cut because it concluded in a review that the museum failed to fully meet criteria for providing support to higher education teaching and research “beyond its host institution”, and for widening access to higher education.

Laura Ashby, audience development officer at the museum, added: “We have two education officers who work with pupils from primary schools and secondary schools.

“We have lots of navigational instruments in the collection and during some school sessions pupils learn what conditions were like on a Tudor ship.”

HEFCE has also informed the museum that the £100,000 grant level will be the basis for funding over the next five years.

Prof Ewan McKendrick, Oxford University Pro-Vice Chancellor for education, academic services and university collections, wrote to staff at the museum on July 6 to inform them of the cut.

He said in the letter that Dr Bennett has been asked to build a business plan to allow the museum to operate with reduced funding.

Prof McKendrick wrote: “The university will provide additional financial support to the museum over the next two to three years to moderate the impact of this cut.”

Matt Pickles, a spokesman for Oxford University said: “The university is currently in discussions with the museum over how we can offer support to help it move forward.

“The forthcoming year will be an exciting one for the Museum of the History of Science, which opens a special exhibition looking at the balance of science and the arts in Islamic instrument-making in October.”

Eighteen months ago, the city council-run Museum of Oxford faced closure, but was saved by the council and Oxford Civic Society.

Science Oxford, off St Clement’s Street, has held talks with Oxfordshire County Council about the possibility of buying Macclesfield House in New Road.

A deal to take over the building, which used to house the council’s education staff, has not been completed.