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AROUND THE WORLD 2: British Professors End Strike

British university students breathed a sigh of relief today when a pay deal was finally agreed between university lecturers and their employers. Lecturers and academic staff have been holding strike action on and off since March this year in a row over pay. They were angry that the government has more than doubled university fees for new students this September, but the tutors themselves were not being paid what they feel they deserved. Despite all of the extra money that would have gone to the universities and colleges, there were no plans to improve the pay of university staff.

The new pay deal means that academic staff will get an increase of 13% over a three year period, while non-academic staff, such as cleaners and security staff, will see a 15% increase in their salary over the same period.

The last few months of the university year was disrupted when lectures and classes were cancelled as staff went on strike. In recent weeks, exams have been either cancelled or postponed, and students were told that any coursework submitted would not be marked until a deal was struck. More than 300,000 students across England and Wales have been affected. However, students in their final year have been hit the hardest, since they were told that they may not be able to graduate until January 2007!

Now that the strike action has been suspended, the staff has to get down to the long job of marking exams and coursework so that students can graduate on time.

--Written by Nina Grant

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