Remove its detritus and we sense that there may be something worthy of serious discussion in the article submitted by the Mona Association of Postgraduate Students (MAPS) and published by this newspaper on Sunday.

The argument, it seems, is that research students at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) ought to receive an increase in their stipend from the university, and there should be a hike in their research grants. There are allusions to the financial difficulties faced by graduate students.

Unfortunately, and perhaps tellingly, there is much muddled and simplistic thinking and analysis. Where there is clarity, it is limited mostly to drawing the distinction between the research postgraduate programmes and "a taught master's", the latter, we are told, "is a mere upgrade on a first degree".

Also discernible is much dumping on lecturers and professors whose tenure and prestige are supposedly due to the efforts of their suffering research assistants; and there is a claim of callous ineptitude on the part of the university's administration.

We do not question the need for greater financial assistance for graduate students. We would, however, have preferred a cogent and coherently made case rather than this whining complaint about the expansion of the physical infrastructure at Mona, or the mocking of the enhancement of the aesthetic of the grounds by the erection of a white picket fence along Queen's Drive. Maybe there should be no tiles along walkways or air conditioners for administrators. The clear suggestion from MAPS is that in the absence of such construction and if the administration was slashed, there would be cash to redistribute to graduate students. There may be truth in this; what the assumption lacks, though, is empirical rigour. As scientists and researchers would be aware, merely declaring something does not make it fact.

We believe that the graduate students might have added value to a potentially serious issue by widening the context of the discussion to include how Jamaica might finance education; how the allocation to its various segments should be prioritised; and how to attract money for research and development.

The more fundamental issue, which we suspect already occupies the minds of the university's administration, is finding ways to make the institution financially self-sufficient, so that it enhances its facilities, improve its products and engage in more research - and improve its stipends. Endowments, of course, are primary sources of financing for universities, as are partnerships with the private sector in research.

The UWI has started on these courses, but the latter area is one that remains largely untapped in the Caribbean. As the region faces the globalised environment, the need for its firms to be competitive and to efficiently bring products grows increasingly stark. Research and development, in that context, is important.

That can be a relative expensive prospect, which may be cushioned if we can achieve economies of scale and there are incentives to engage in R&D, such as tax rebates. This is a conversation that regional governments, the private sector and universities should begin to have.

This, of course, might not answer the immediate concern of the MAPS members, but may be a start. They might add to the process by engaging in some serious thought.