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Rewarding excellent teaching through promotion procedures is one way of stimulating good teaching and ensuring parity of esteem with research ("Unions on the warpath over reward for 'star' teachers", THES, July 18).

At Salford University, we have put scholarship and research in teaching and learning on a par with subject discipline research up to the highest staffing grade. Thus, in the 2002-03 promotion round, nine colleagues were awarded chairs and, of these, eight included teaching as a substantive part of their case.

The university has also introduced a category of professorial fellow to recognise senior colleagues whose work has made an impact on the university's teaching and learning environment, but who have rarely had time to build an external profile and thereby satisfy the criteria for a chair.

Carole Roberts
Faculty of business and informatics
University of Salford