Letter: High price of a university degree

Letter: High price of a university

degree

Sir: We feel that little emphasis has been given to issues such as "value added" in higher education - particularly in relation to those students from deprived backgrounds who have benefited from the expansion of higher education.

The institutions catering for these students deserve greater recognition for the results they are achieving. The educational background of students at "new" universities, given their ethnic and social diversity, is usually deemed, in terms of previous academic attainment, to be of a much lower standard than that of their counterparts at "old" universities. Yet many of our students graduate with good degrees and can achieve employment which is on a par with that of their counterparts at "old" universities.

The added value that new universities provide should be more fully recognised. This recognition should be clearly demonstrated in the funding received by new universities.

ANDY ASQUITH

NASHIR BHARMAL

ANITA DANCS

TONY DENNIS

PETER MCLAVERTY

Department of Politics and Public Policy