Joe Bone's experience of teaching politics at a new university makes sad reading, but it would be a mistake to derive a general lesson from his experience. I and a number of my colleagues were successfully educated in post-1992 institutions. I have also taught at a number of new universities and have found that many students work hard in class, in the library and in the jobs that they take to pay the rent.
Perhaps Bone's piece says more about the failure of education advisers to counsel students into the right field of study than about the policy of broadening education at higher education level.
Anita Biressi
Senior lecturer in media and cultural studie
University of Surrey Roehampton