I don’t see the problem here as long as we really are talking about computer science. The University of Cambridge has two departments within the mathematics fac

I don’t see the problem here as long as we really are talking about computer science. The University of Cambridge has two departments within the mathematics faculty already, one studying pure maths and statistics, the other applied maths and theoretical physics. Separating computer science research and teaching into a third element doesn’t seem inconsistent with that approach to me (though that’s not how the Computer Laboratory in Cambridge actually became what it is today). Now, if we’re talking about teaching people to program simple software tools, as a useful practical skill like modelling something using calculus or writing a clear report, that’s a different question. There is room in the world both for specialists who are experts in a field and study the hard problems and for practitioners who aren’t experts but know enough to get useful things done. A full computer science course in a dedicated department is not a good fit for the latter group, who really need solid basic programming skills and perhaps a little software engineering knowledge.