January 27.
Presumably Graeme Robertson (January 23) proposes the closure of
certain Scottish universities as superfluous to indigenous educational
needs in order to provoke controversy where none should exist.
Despite Mr Robertson's dogmatic assertion I would doubt that any
Scottish university has to fill half its places with students from
outwith the country. On the contrary, native Scots aspiring to
university entrance, even with good academic credentials, often find
that acceptance is not automatic.
Perhaps the motivation underlying selection is not inseparable from
the need both to maintain high academic standards and to promote a
cross-fertilisation of ideas that are not always the hallmark of a
parochial institution. The latter is arguably essential to bring out the
very best in student and teaching staff alike through the media of both
tutorial and seminar. In this respect, credit must also be given to the
impetus currently provided by Erasmus and similar schemes promoting
inter-continental student exchange for a limited period in a selected
academic course.
It is an accepted fact that universities must be ever larger economic
units to remain viable. Fortunately Scottish university education is a
marketable commodity. Mr Robertson clearly fails to appreciate the
excellence of the four-year honours course with its wide range of
subject choice affording an extremely liberal education.
As the ongoing demand for the erection of a Highland university must
convey, there is no lack of interest among Scots of all ages and
geographical locations to secure a university education often at
considerable personal cost and self-sacrifice.
In this connection Tony Benn, MP, has publicly voiced his conception
of the future role of universities as akin to that of public libraries.
People aged from nine to 90 would be enabled to enrol at any stage in
life, or at several stages in life, to satisfy a personal need ''to be
the best that I can be''. Hence universities must remain supra-national.
John R. Stephen,
76 Randolph Road,
Glasgow.
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