The vice-chancellor of Sussex University is to be hauled before MPs next week over plans to close its highly-rated chemistry department.

The influential all-party science and technology committee has summoned Professor Alasdair Smith before a hearing on Monday to grill him about the move.

The meeting was announced after pressure from Brighton Kemptown MP Des Turner, a committee member who is outraged by the proposals.

He said: "We are very worried about the loss of strategic science just as there appears to be a resurgence of interest in it.

"It's not a time to close a department - certainly (not) one with a rating as good as this.

"If it goes ahead it would finish the university as a science university."

Professor Smith will be joined in front of the committee by chemistry head Gerry Lawless and Steve Egan, acting chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Dr Turner said: "We want a serious explanation. On all the evidence that I have seen, it's not justified.

"The university does have financial worries but they are not to be laid at the door of the chemistry department."

He accused the university administration of "foolish spending" on projects such as the genome centre and the medical school.

It is unusual for hearings to be called at such late notice but the committee has decided it must act quickly after the university's surprise announcement.

Last week, the bosses deferred a decision on the future of the chemistry department for six weeks - a move welcomed by those Sussex university staff and students opposed to the closure.