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Apropos the discussion of research concentration, Martin McQuillan and his colleagues from Kingston University claim to be on a "greater mission: social inclusion" with a concern for the "democratisation of higher education" (Letters, January).

The university sector will embrace its own erosion if social inclusion is deemed more important than facing up to the reality that research concentration in pursuit of the highest levels of international excellence, especially in the sciences, is both essential and inevitable.

Paul Trayhurn, Honorary professor, University of Buckingham