IT IS very unfortunate and wholly misleading that Dr Peter C.N. Hardstone in his letter ('Bouquet', Sept 25), tries to link Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh, to questionable institutions identified by Ms Sandra Davie in her informative series of articles.

QMU has a history of over 130 years and during that period of time we have grown and developed from our early origins as an institute training teachers to address the health and nutritional needs of the population of Edinburgh into a much wider range of curriculum provision as a university college and ultimately a university. In addition to our business, social sciences and drama schools, we offer the widest range of health sciences and disciplines of any of the Scottish universities. We have been approved by The Privy Council to award our own taught degrees since 1992 and have been awarding research degrees since 1999.

Universities in Britain are regulated in a robust manner by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), and QMU, along with all other universities, is regularly and successfully assessed by them. We have been praised for the quality of our learning and teaching support for students and our academic standards. The award to us of university title last year followed exhaustive scrutiny by independent regulatory and statutory bodies, including the QAA, which resulted in the unreserved recommendation that we merited full university title.

In all of the regular assessments and reviews published by the quality press in Britain, Queen Margaret University is consistently highly rated. In 2002, we were one of only two degree-awarding bodies in Scotland to be given the Queen's Award; in 2005 and 2006, we were named the best Higher Education College in the United Kingdom by the London Times; and last year, we placed in the Top 10 of Modern Universities in Britain and we were named jointly as the leading such university in Scotland.

In the 2001 and 2008 research assessments exercises, we submitted the highest proportion of our staff as 'research active' of any of the 'modern' universities. We are immensely proud that our progression to full university status was publicly celebrated last year by First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond; and that our new campus in Edinburgh, the most modern and innovative in Scotland, was ceremonially opened this July by the Queen of England.

Our strength and quality is one of the reasons that we work so successfully and closely with the East Asia Institute of Management, a high quality and successful Singapore private educational organisation, with whom our developing relationship has led to a joint campus at Balestier.

Readers, the parents of students and students themselves can be confident that at Queen Margaret University, our standards are high. Success at study requires hard work and determination, and success with a Queen Margaret degree will lead to a worthwhile and successful career. This is evidenced by the very high employability rate of our graduates.

I regret to say that Dr Hardstone's casual remarks were without foundation. I trust he will recognise his responsibility to withdraw them and will apologise unequivocally for so misleading readers.

Professor Anthony P. Cohen
Principal and Vice-Chancellor
Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Oct 8, 2008.

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