Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, France's minister for higher education and research, has pledged support to a dedicated observatory for “rare” university disciplines that are scientifically or culturally important.
The move is a response to a recommendation in a report on rare disciplines commissioned by Geneviève Fioraso, who resigned as state secretary for higher education and research last month.
A definitive list of rare disciplines does not appear in the report, but the phrase is used to refer to subjects with a declining or small number of researchers. Although the term applies mainly to niche arts and humanities disciplines—papyrology is given as an example—science subjects such as bioinformatics are also included.
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