Update: 12:00

Most FE lecturers want to quit
Two-thirds of further education lecturers are seriously considering leaving their job or taking early retirement because they feel overworked and undervalued, a national survey has revealed. FE lecturers are demonstrating their dissatisfaction with pay and conditions in a two-day strike today and tomorrow coordinated by their largest union, Natfhe, which commissioned the survey. An estimated 283 colleges are affected by the action, called in protest over a 1.5 per cent pay offer which Natfhe says would do nothing to help meet lecturers' demands for the closure of a 12 per cent salary gap with schoolteachers by 2004. Employers directed their response to the strike at ministers, blaming the government for putting FE colleges in a "financial crisis" that left them unable to offer better pay rises, and hampering staff recruitment and retention.

Morris gives Italian counterpart lesson
Education secretary Estelle Morris was today giving her Italian counterpart a lesson in Britain's education system. She meets the new Italian education minister Litizia Moratti in Rome.

Royal opening for Dundee genome centre
The Duke of Edinburgh has opened the £4.3 million post genome centre at Dundee University, which aims to use information uncovered by the Human Genome Project to help understand diseases such as tuberculosis, cancer, diabetes and malaria. The Wellcome Trust is the key funder of the purpose-built laboratories.

Aberdeen plays host to Scottish cabinet
Aberdeen University's court room today housed the first Scottish cabinet meeting outside Edinburgh. The university is hosting the Scottish Parliament for three days while the Church of Scotland reclaims its Edinburgh premises for its annual general assembly.