Conversion courses a catalyst

Your correspondent (THES, August 23) reports the welcome news from the Higher Education Funding Council for England that entry to engineering courses has been boosted by higher introduction technology and engineering conversion courses. I would not, however, like your readers to think that such courses are available only in the ex-polytechnic sector.

At the same time as HITECC courses were being developed in the polytechnics the University Grants Committee, and the Department of Education and Science, encouraged by the Engineering Professors' Conference, agreed to support a number of universities in their introduction of a foundation year in a range of engineering courses for bright students without maths and physics A levels. Because funding was incorporated in individual universities' allocations and there was no central organisation, the courses developed separately, although promoted as Special Technology and Engineering Preparatory Studies courses.

In 1988, their first year, these courses were offered in 11 universities and are currently being offered in about 30 of the "old" universities. The need to make engineering courses accessible is as important now as it was in 1988 and the continued existence of these foundation courses shows that they are fulfilling a valuable role.

John Beynon Past chairman (1985-87) Engineering Professors' Conference