From MICHAEL FRENCH
I was glad to see the excellent coverage you gave to engineering design
and the SERC’s Engineering Design Centres (‘Shaky start for engineering
design centres’, 1 September). However, you do rather give the impression
that the SERC is to blame for the low salaries which make it difficult to
recruit good staff, when this aspect is quite outside their control. The
blame for the depressed state of academic salaries lies entirely with government.
With the dramatic decline in the balance of trade in manufacturing,
from roughly +5 billion Pounds in 1980 to – 15 billion Pounds now, the universities
and polytechnics have a vital role to play in the economic recovery, and
it is absurd to deprive them of the good people they need by forcing uncompetitive
salaries upon them. The bootstrap theory pull hard enough on your shoelaces
you will rise into the air’) has been debunked: we must now step up our
efforts on the revival of manufacturing but we must have the means.
Michael French Lancaster University
