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The article "Extreme makeover" (4 February) describing the University of Hong Kong's curriculum reforms refers to similarly intentioned innovations at the universities of Melbourne and Aberdeen. It overlooks, however, an institution that predates them all.

The University of Glasgow's Dumfries Campus has included "core courses" in its undergraduate curriculum since its inception in 1999. They cover critical thinking, textual analysis, communication, applied ethics and politics, history and the sociology of science, and rhetoric. One of their aims is to produce well-informed, democratic citizens capable of critical reflection and contextualising their chosen academic disciplines. Ten years of experience, research and evaluation has shown the approach to be successful.

Stuart Hanscomb and Benjamin Franks, University of Glasgow: Dumfries Campus, Universal freedoms.