Deadlock

(Photograph) - A mock funeral was one of several events staged last week by students across the country protesting against government plans to levy tuition fees. In Bristol, students marched from the University of the West of England campus to the headquarters of the Higher Education Funding Council for England carrying a coffin full of imitation degree certificates.

It was designed to publicise their worry over the death of free education and the fear that some degree courses would end because not enough students would be prepared to pay for them. Students at Huddersfield Technical College released hundreds of balloons; while those at the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside occupied university buildings for more than 100 hours. More demonstrations were planned to coincide with the second reading of the higher education bill in the House of Lords.