'Super Lab' for London science students

London Metropolitan University has recently opened its £30m Science Centre in Holloway, North London.

The centre is home to the Super Lab - a giant laboratory with room for 280 students in which up to 12 classes can be taught at once, with the assistance of headsets, computers and video screens. The lab is equipped for chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology and cell biology, and its opening runs counter to a gradual decline in the study of chemistry in the UK: London Metropolitan is one of only three institutions in the capital where chemistry degrees are taught.

'Ten to fifteen years ago biology and chemistry were under threat at this university,' said Dr Bryan Bointon, head of health and human sciences: 'Chemistry is under threat across the country - It's brave for the university to be investing the money in sciences when most universities are talking about shutting departments down.'

Yahan Zhu, an international student at the university from Shanghai, China, said: 'It's amazing. It's so big and every time a lot of students work here you get the chance to see what they are doing. There is nothing like this back home, and I feel excited and proud to be studying here.'