The advent of top-up fees combined with the new-found militancy of their lecturers, and especially of the Association of University Teachers, has concentrated their minds like nothing else could have. Paying fees makes students more hard-headed about what they are studying and what they are going to do with their higher education. The thought that they might not get the degrees they have paid for is sobering enough. Then they discover that the very people denying them the degrees are their lecturers, who should have their best interests at heart. It is not surprising that some student unions have begun to get restless and to challenge the united front of the National Union of Students and the lecturers’ unions
It is, in a sense, student unions coming of age. The lecturers’ industrial action has reached a critical stage.
Students are to sit their exams next month and every day that passes without a resolution in sight makes it more likely that they will be unable to graduate this summer. Contact the Science Night Information Line on 020-7942 4747.So if it’s dead squids, flying vultures, ingenious escape routes or a spooky night in a museum, there’s a day or night out to fire the imagination of every child.. The cost is £30 for both children and adults and you need to take an evening snack. Call Young Friends membership on 020-7323 8195.Sleepovers at the Science Museum are available for 8 to 11-year-olds in groups of five to nine, with at least one adult.
You need to become a “Young Friend” of the museum first (available for 8- 15-year-olds at an annual cost of £20). The sleepover starts at 5pm on a Saturday with various activities until you settle down to sleep in the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery Sunday begins with breakfast and more activities The cost is £27.50 for both adults and children. The British Museum runs four themed nights a year, with the next one in June. For information call 01223 835000.Finally, if it’s a night out rather than a day trip you want, both the British Museum and the Science Museum in London have sleepovers.