Bigger not better

As A committed member of the Scottish National Party, I would like to urge education secretary Mike Russell to tread carefully before making any decisions on the future of further education.

The quality of education for current and future generations must come before any short-sighted decisions to create larger universities on the basis of cost savings. Big is not always better.

Given the recent furore surrounding the discussion of merging Abertay University with Dundee University (your report, 27 September) I would like to add the recent merger of Edinburgh College of Art (ECA with the University of Edinburgh to the debate.

As a postgraduate student at the newly merged university, I have witnessed the inevitable upheaval connected with merging two very distinct institutions.

In Edinburgh there appears to be a lack of coherent leadership, disjointed relations and a collective feeling of unease and scepticism about what benefits such drastic change can bring to a despondent and lost student body.As with all unions in which one partner is vastly bigger, a disconnection of priorities, ethos and methodology can lead to a new direction which goes against beliefs developed over countless generations. Sitting last week in the canteen of ECA after a year away from Edinburgh there was a palpable sense that this once lively place had lost some of its soul.

Despite these losses, which will be counted over the coming months and years, the student body from both institutions has united in one view. We are all in this together. I sincerely hope that the students in Dundee do not have to be together in it with us.

Ross Aitchison

PG Student of Architecture

Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture

University of Edinburgh