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In 1994, the Quality Assurance Agency rated Royal Holloway's geography department "satisfactory" for its teaching. On the basis of these results from the distant past, The THES excluded the department from its league tables (League tables 2002, THES, May 10).

As the QAA acknowledged, the methodology used in these early teaching quality assessments was unreliable and inequitable. Our department was given its rating without a visit, staff or student interviews or inspection of course documentation.

We are confident of the excellence of our programmes through a review using external assessors last year as part of Royal Holloway's routine quality-control system - a system highly commended in a subsequent QAA continuation audit of the college. As we also received a 5* in the 2001 research assessment exercise. we are confident that we offer some of the most dynamic and professional geography courses in Britain.

It is deeply depressing that you choose the cheap and easy option of ancient TQA scores in constructing your tables, rather than doing the work required to give students a more accurate picture of the merits of different courses.

David Gilbert

Degree programme coordinator

Klaus Dodds

Admissions officer

Department of geography

Royal Holloway, University of London