Fury as two-week lecturer strike hits a million students

students have hit out at lecturers preparing to start a fortnight-long strike this week – fearing it will harm their graduation prospects.

More than a million will be affected by what is the third walkout in less than two years.

And some students are expected to resort to private tuition to avoid falling behind – despite those in england and Wales paying more than £9,000 a year for courses.

One student leader, at Cardiff university, privately warned undergraduates may have to repeat a year due to lost teaching time.

Lecturers, librarians and technicians at 74 UK institutions will walk out over pay and conditions on thursday.

the university and College union (UCU) has claimed pension changes will leave members up to £10,000 a year worse off. But, at the same time, six-figure salaries have become commonplace among university bosses, with 508 employees across Russell Group of institutions – including edinburgh and Glasgow – earning more than the Prime Minister’s salary of about £160,000 in the last academic year.

nearly 14,000 have signed an online petition calling for universities to refund students the fees for tuition they will now not receive.

nina Porter, 20, a second-year student at university College London, told the sunday times: ‘I am so angry. I still have to pay the fees.

‘For me it works out at about £2,575 in fees for [lectures] and seminars I have not or will not receive.’

UCU general secretary Jo Grady slammed ‘out of touch’ vice-chancellors and threatened further strikes if the dispute is not resolved.

In scotland the institutions that will be hit by the strikes between February 20 and 26 and March 2 and 13 are the Glasgow school of Art and the universities of Aberdeen, Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian, Heriot-Watt, Queen Margaret, st Andrews and strathclyde.

Between February 24 and 26 and March 2 and 13, the universities of dundee, edinburgh and stirling will also be affected.

‘I still have to pay the fees’