Letter: Value in the old 1

Sad that The THES should base its national "access elite" league table ( THES , January 18) solely on "young" (ie under 21) undergraduate entrants.

Mature entrants comprised 22 per cent of the 1999-2000 undergraduate intake and more than 40 per cent for many post-1992 universities, including my own.

At least as high a proportion of those mature students fell into the targeted "underrepresented" social groups as did the "young" students.

The distribution of access funds you recently reported ( THES , November 30) tracks the actual achievements of British universities in this field.

Roger Harris
Tottenham campus
Dean of students
Middlesex University, London.