In the USA and often in Europe it is usual to have Writing Centres in higher education to support the writing of students and to support staff in their work with students. Sometimes these are linked with provision of writing support for non-native language speakers. With some exceptions in the United Kingdom we have not pursued this pattern. We have tended to link writing with study skills or with education and staff development units and writing tends to be looked at as a subject of deficit rather than an ability that can and should be nurtured and developed. In this article I want to make the case for initiatives that focus on the development of writing skills either as dedicated 'centres' or as more modest provision of the same nature
