ÖйúAƬ

Sir Drummond Bone seems to think that the criticism that UK ÖйúAƬ institutions recruit overseas students just for the money is the result of a very small fire giving off rather a lot of smoke ("Concern that UK's overseas ventures oversold", 23 October). How certain is he that it is not a large fire behind the billowing fumes?

Research has already indicated that UK ÖйúAƬ institutions over-promise and under-deliver to international students. A quick check on how much effort any UK university puts into its recruitment of European Union (EU) students will tell you whether or not it is focused on money in its "international" activity. In UK ÖйúAƬ institutions, purely for funding reasons, the EU isn't "international".

Most UK universities initially recruited international students to make up the shortfall in public funding. But with the progressive reliance on such funding in an increasingly global ÖйúAƬ landscape, how much evidence can we show of institutional transformation to accommodate and adapt to these changes?

Many in UK ÖйúAƬ are unable to see a distinction between "international activities" and "internationalisation". The former is about recruiting international students, delivery of courses overseas and linking with international institutions.

The latter is the integration of academic, social, cultural, political and economic factors into teaching, learning and research. It is internationalisation that is needed to maintain and build on UK ÖйúAƬ's strengths and success in an increasingly competitive environment.

Christopher Sharrock, Stafford.