A rescue package for a top-rated university chemistry department, earmarked for closure, will be considered by a senior management committee tomorrow.

Chemistry students and staff at the University of Sussex hope the committee will approve recommendations to invest in the department which has a Grade 5 research rating and has produced two Nobel Prize winners.

In March, the university announced plans to scrap chemistry degrees, halve the number of staff and rename the department chemical biology to save £750,000.

But mass student protests forced the university to reconsider and it allowed six weeks for a review group to look at alternatives for the department.

The review group suggested a modest investment. It said three new researchers should be appointed, by reassigning technicians already working in the department, and a professor and two lecturers should join the department on loan from biosciences.

A consortium of leading individuals and companies in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries has agreed to help the university raise £1.2 million to pay back the biosciences department over five years.

Head of chemistry Dr Gerry Lawless said: "I am confident we have come up with a good plan. It was born out of a thorough investigation and with academic in-put from other departments and students."

Last week, the university's strategy and resources committee refused to approve the new recommendations, stating the plan was not detailed enough.

Dr Lawless said they had now "fine-tuned" the proposals and were ready to present them to the university senate, the highest academic decision-making body.

The university said no decision would be made at the meeting, or at next week's university council meeting, to allow more time for fine-tuning. Students and the Association of University Teachers say that is not good enough. They want a decision immediately and will stage a protest outside the senate.

Richard Pike, chief executive of The Royal Society of Chemistry, said: "We urge Sussex to take the right path this week.

"The anti-science culture, as demonstrated by recent university chemistry department closure threats, will not only diminish the UK in the global arena, it will also have tangible and potentially disastrous repercussions for safety and security in industry, commerce and everyday life."