I have to strongly disagree with David Willetts's claim that more competition from private universities will create a "more open, dynamic and diverse higher education system" (Universities fear private colleges will 'cherry-pick' lucrative degrees, 13 April)
Higher education is one of this country's greatest success stories – one of our strongest exports. Our reputation and success are built on the quality and standards of our system. Private institutions are not subject to the same regulations as other universities: quality, student numbers, widening access, all are left unregulated. Broadening the sector without regard for the quality of provision could damage the sector's reputation for generations. The proposals as they stand threaten the international reputation of higher education.
Furthermore, as your article points out, private providers will be able to pick and choose what is popular and cheap for them to provide. There is no incentive for the private sector to provide courses that have heavy overheads, and the likelihood is that this will fall to existing universities, which will face huge costs to maintain provision. This has the potential to threaten the stability of the sector and the provision of a number of courses.
The government's white paper on the future of the sector is expected later this year. It has a responsibility to ensure that there is a rigorous, independent, quality assurance system in place that upholds the integrity of academic standards of an acclaimed international industry.
Vice-chancellor, University of Central Lancashire
• The news that BPP University College's owner, Apollo, is being investigated by the US Higher Learning Commission for deceiving students comes as little surprise. The University and College Union has been warning for months that the growth of a for-profit university sector in Britain would be fraught with danger, pointing to the series of public scandals that have rocked the US for-profit sector.
For-profit companies have relied on the light-touch regulation across the pond in order to grow, but the situation is now so bad that President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have been forced to intervene and are calling for much tighter checks over accreditation.
It was interesting therefore to see BPP's principal, Carl Lygo, trying to distance himself from BPP's parent company by singing the praises of the UK regulation system, especially when behind the scenes private providers, including BPP, are reported to have lobbied David Willetts to water down regulations and give them greater access to public funding.
This government does not need another higher education disaster. Its forthcoming white paper on higher education is imminent and it is essential that ministers drop their ideological commitment to deregulation and start looking at the evidence. To do otherwise would be to blindly repeat the worst mistakes made in the US – and the consequences for our young people and for taxpayers could be disastrous.
Sally Hunt
General secretary, UCU
• As one of four leading academics in the field of Caribbean and Latin American studies who are already under threat of being made redundant at London Metropolitan University, I write to protest at my vice-chancellor's plans (London university to cut scores of degrees, 16 April). The inanity of his scheme is exemplified by the fact that London Met, the only university in the UK that offers Caribbean studies as an undergraduate degree, is to close it from this year. London Met has more Afro-Caribbean students than the UK's leading 20 universities put together. Quite why our VC is willing to deny them the chance to study their own heritage and culture is beyond me. The VC knows his plans will result in hundreds of redundancies, yet he is refusing to offer any enhanced terms; while he has been at the university for a year and draws a salary reputed to be nearly £300,000, he intends to show the door to staff who have dedicated the best part of their lives to the institution with only the statutory minimum redundancy payment. Quite how he expects to drive this through without a staff rebellion is also beyond me.
Dr Stephen Wilkinson
Director, Centre for Caribbean and Latin American Research and Consultancy