Indicators fail to perform well

You conclude that "privilege is still the passport to university and top institutions are doing the least to redress the balance". You then concentrate on the failings of the majority of universities to meet their (often modest) benchmarks for enrolling students from lower social classes. The colleges of higher education and specialist art and design colleges are not mentioned anywhere in your article or editorial, despite the evidence that most have exceeded their benchmarks. The conclusion that a serious study of the Hefce figures generates is that it is the colleges that "put the elite - and indeed most of the university sector - to shame".

David Buss

Director of academic affairs

Kent Institute of Art and Design