You claim that the University of Manchester will be the UK's biggest university, with an estimated 34,000 students ("Man united hits home straight", THES , August 1) In Anchorage, they upset visiting Texans by telling them that if Alaska were split in two, then Texas would be the third biggest state. If you divide The Open University into quarters, the merged institution would be the fifth biggest university.
In case you meant the biggest "conventional" university, Leeds Metropolitan has 46,000 students.
Alan Woodley
The Open University