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Georgina Edsel, Poppleton University¡¯s deputy head of brand management (¡°New name for ¡®Bottom Russellers¡¯?¡±, The Poppletonian, 17?April) is definitely thinking along the right lines in proposing a new name of ¡°Premier Inn Group¡± for the low-ranking members of the Russell Group of universities. But I would go a?bit further.

First, it is not the ¡°Russell Hotel Group¡± of universities but the ¡°Russell Group¡±. Therefore, to be consistent, surely the new group should be the ¡°Premier Group¡± and not the ¡°Premier Inn Group¡±. And this sounds much better. After all, nothing can be higher than ¡°premier¡±.

And second, it will not be long anyway before our heavily stratified system of post-school education divides into three categories, and ¡°further¡±, ¡°higher¡± and ¡°premier¡± are the obvious categories. As with football teams and aircraft seats, ¡°premier¡± would clearly be ¡°tops¡± in education.

So all that remains is for the Premier Group of universities to decide what fee to charge when the so-called ¡°Top Russellers¡± come grovelling for membership of the new elite.

John Brennan
Emeritus professor
The Open University