Readers' reactions

Last week in The THES... Derek Portwood argued that the advantages of college franchises outweigh the disadvantages

Brian Styles, Principal, City of Bristol College

There has been a lot of research into franchising, whereby colleges receive government funds for courses that they then sub-contract out to other organisations. The problem with the research presented by Derek Portwood is that it is partial. He seems to have been employed by a group engaged in franchising and he based his conclusions on visits to a sample of colleges.

Not surprisingly, he found some good things about franchising. But he overlooks many of its problems. Recently, two major franchisers - Halton College and Bilston Community College - have had their futures put in jeopardy by the practice. Portwood's blanket endorsement of franchising is not supported by a full view of all the evidence.

Adrian Perry, Principal, Lambeth College

Part of the problem with franchising is that it does indeed have the potential to be used in a principled manner to the benefit of community groups and employers. But the truth is that Further Education Funding Council for England statistics show most franchising is not used like this. This is particularly true of the mega-franchisers - the ones who reported vast growth figures and broke the FEFCE bank. How can we defend a system that has colleges in Cumbria, Wiltshire, Durham and Cornwall funding training in South London?