Pluses and minuses

Hooray for the egalitarianism of The THES in compiling the list of "Top institutions in 70 subjects" (THES, April 23), so that the academic world realises that higher education colleges can exceed the performance of many universities.

Pity that in the same week The Times, publishing league tables in association with The THES, excluded higher education colleges, thereby giving prospective students the false impression that HE colleges are not academically comparable with universities.

Peter S. Kettlewell

Reader in crop physiology, Crop and Environment Research Centre

Harper Adams University College