Professional ambitions

You report that "British-born black youngsters are being confined to an arts and humanities ghetto" (THES, January 24). When examining at the University of Singapore I was surprised to find that only four out of the 24 final-year students studying biochemistry were interested in a career in science. Their view was that scientific research was not considered to be a profession like medicine, dentistry, law, etc. I wonder whether this does not provide a clue as to why there are not more black science students both in the United Kingdom and the United States. The situation certainly contrasts with that in medicine.

Peter Campbell, University College London