Letter: Bean-counterclaims

We recently had a letter published (THES, January 26) that criticised the transparency review being carried out in the sector. This is the scheme whereby staff have to keep 24-hour diaries of their activities as the quid pro quo for securing an "additional" £1.5 billion of government funding - additional in the context of many years of sustained cuts.

We saw this as the final straw in an increasing, and often pointless, imposition of audits, assessments and reviews that detract from our ability to deliver high-quality research and teaching.

But among the dozens of messages of support we have received there was one lone voice of dissent. This letter claimed we were "unaware of the facts" regarding the transparency review and had perpetuated myths "based on a disregard for the evidence". So there you have it, you just cannot please everyone - especially the lucky firm J. M. Consulting that has the contract to implement this irrelevant "bean-counting" exercise across 175 institutions.

Des McLernon
School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
University of Leeds

Allan House
Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences
University of Leeds