I am continually reminded that I need to persuade more people to take one of our masters courses. I agree with this. Education is a good thing. And in a recession, surely lots more people want to take a higher qualification, improve their skills, find new friends, change career and have a good time. And I think our courses are the best of their kind. It should be easy to get say, 3 more people than last year.

But I would like to know the dimensions of the information profession. The numbers underlying this continual drive to increase student recruitment. Do they add up?

1. How many people are employed in the information industries in the UK?
2. What is the turnover – i.e. how many vacancies are available per year
3. How many of these vacancies require someone with a masters in information science or library science?
4. How many new masters graduates are needed?
5. How many of these could we persuade to study in London?
6. How many could we persuade to come to City University London?

It would be great to know. But I’m stuck on the first question.