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The Higher Education Funding Council for England consultation over the government's proposed Higher Education Academy was indeed a farce ("Hefce 'farce' makes sign-up to teaching academy compulsory", THES , October 10).

The question is: what are publicly funded universities going to do about it? May I suggest to Michael Driscoll, chair of the Coalition of Modern Universities, that the organisation advise its members not to pay the HEA subscription and not to take part in any HEA activity.

If Hefce responds by "docking" the subscription at source, before any university receives its Hefce grant, then at least we shall know what the HEA really is (and what it was always going to be) - a Whitehall-controlled quango.

Geoffrey Alderman
Professor emeritus
Middlesex University