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The provocative headline notwithstanding ("Professorial quality diluting"), the short article on mass promotions at Oxford (THES, July 12) produces an odd focus on the statistics. "Women professors have more than doubled from 12 to 30, How amazing. These 12 were out of about 200 (6 per cent); and the new number of 30 is out of 361 (8 per cent, in a general increase of about 80 per cent). One giant leap for men, one small leap for women.

Katie Wales Professor of English language Royal Holloway University of London