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"Golden hellos" to recruit lecturers in shortage subjects ("Thumbs down for ?9K hellos," THES , April 25) would address only symptoms of the problem. They would operate like a revolving door - with new lecturers entering and devalued and demoralised lecturers exiting - unless "golden handcuffs" were introduced. Recruitment and retention are intertwined. If the Higher Education Funding Council for England is serious about solving both problems, it must adopt a twin-track approach.

Roger Numas
University of Brighton