Reported is the adaptation of a manual polysaccharide assay applicable for glycoconjugate vaccines such as Prevenar to an automated liquid handling system (LHS) for improved performance. The anthrone assay is used for carbohydrate concentration determinations and was scaled to the microtiter plate format with appropriate mixing, dispensing, and measuring operations. Adaptation and development of the LHS platform was performed with both dextran polysaccharides of various sizes and pneumococcal serotype 6A polysaccharide (PnPs 6A). A standard plate configuration was programmed such that the LHS diluted both calibration standards and a test sample multiple times with six replicate preparations per dilution. This extent of replication minimized the effect of any single deviation or delivery error that might have occurred. Analysis of the dextran polymers ranging in size from 214 kDa to 3.755 MDa showed that regardless of polymer chain length the hydrolysis was complete, as evident by uniform concentration measurements. No plate positional absorbance bias was observed; of 12 plates analyzed to examine positional bias the largest deviation observed was 0.02% percent relative standard deviation (%RSD). The high purity dextran also afforded the opportunity to assess LHS accuracy; nine replicate analyses of dextran yielded a mean accuracy of 101% recovery. As for precision, a total of 22 unique analyses were performed on a single lot of PnPs 6A, and the resulting variability was 2.5% RSD. This work demonstrated the capability of a LHS to perform the anthrone assay consistently and a reduced assay cycle time for greater laboratory capacity.

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In May 1970 I argued in this journal that cost effectiveness should dominate the planning of higher education in the seventies, and in November 1971 outlined steps for its rationalisation. The DES Statistics of Education Volume 5, Finance and Awards for 1970, puts in focus the stark situation of education costs for England and Wales. The total cost was £1,980 millions, an increase of £217 millions over the previous year. The 1971 Blue Book (CMND 4829) shows an overall educational expenditure of £2,953 millions for 1970–71 and highlights the share which higher education received. Over the ten year period 1960–1970 the largest increases were on tuition costs of teacher training, university grants and further education, in that order. In 1969–70 further and adult education received £246.3 millions, teacher training £53.8 millions and the universities £225.6 millions. The size of this sector of education has been projected in the DES Planning Paper No 2 which suggested that twice as many boys and girls will secure two or more ‘A’ levels in 1981 compared with 1968. The number in full‐time higher education in 1969–70 (Universities, Colleges of Education and Further Education) was estimated at 443 000 and projections suggested this will rise to 847 000 in 1981–82. Total costs of full‐time higher education at 1966–67 prices were estimated to rise to £957 millions. It is in the cold light of these essential statistics that developments in planning higher education for the next five years and how cost effectiveness can be implemented are now considered.