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Natalie Fenton argues that "core funding...must remain public or we will all pay" ("Privatise at a price," THES , September 14). We have already paid a heavy price.

Our salaries and student funding are abysmal, we are scapegoated for schools' failure to produce good graduates and are subjected to bureaucratic exercises designed to mask the quality decline. This is not the fault of private funding, but of government policies and ineffectual lobbying by unions and vice-chancellors. As long as the Treasury foots the bill, political expediency and fiscal rules will trump quality education.

Steven McGuire
School of Management
University of Bath