SS ('Has the PM become more right-wing?' Aug 28) takes it for granted that the best universities in the world are always government owned, and that Cuba is the desired place to go to college, because it's free. This is a preposterous notion.

I can't imagine those talented Taiwanese computer majors or Singaporean future engineers saying to their parents, "I want to get my degree in Cuba." The finest universities in the world are private, namely Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford and many others. They not only provide the desired education, but they are also responsible in large part to the success of high-tech sectors such as Silicon Valley.

And, contrary to popular belief, a student does not have to be rich to study at one of these institutions. Students who do not have the means to pay the high tuition fees are given financial aid packages. Princeton, moreover, now offers full tuition grants to all students.

The other elite, private universities in the US are expected to follow suit. Yale, Princeton and others of their like have huge endowments that dwarf Oxbridge and Cambridge, money that comes from rich alumni and institutional investment portfolios.

This money in turn allows universities such as the California Institute of Technology to spend US$80,000 per student per year, offering the best scholars and a level of high-tech education and research that simply cannot be matched in a socialist system. It is rather simplistic to suggest we should all follow a Cuban or the defunct Soviet system of higher education just because it means the students wouldn't have to pay tuition fees.

You get what you pay for, but ironically, now students can go to Princeton for free, and almost free at the others, provided they meet admission standards of the academic meritocracy.

As for private vs public hospitals, anyone with private health insurance in the US has access to the very best hospitals (i.e. private ones), while public hospitals and charity hospitals offer low-cost or free services to those who do not have insurance.

The dual system of public and private institutions, whether we're talking about universities or hospitals, has produced a system that combines mass access to those institutions with elite excellence. This is well known around the world, and explains why certain American hospitals and universities alike are the preferred institutions for patients and students respectively, worldwide.

Go to Cuba for medical treatment and then maybe pick up a degree? Thanks, maybe some other time.