An award-winning science illustration programme at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is facing closure.

On 12 August, administrators announced that they would end the programme next spring because of mounting debt in the university's continuing-education system. The 27-year-old science illustration course, one of a handful in the nation to offer graduate training, failed to bring in enough tuition dollars to cover its costs. The announced closure is the latest in a series of cuts.

The university is still looking for alternative ways to finance the illustration curriculum, says Ann Caudle, the course's director. "There is a sliver of a chance we might continue the programme."