For the past two months academics in Britain have been refusing to mark their students' exams in an attempt to gain some of the extra cash that will start coming to universities this year as a result of the government's controversial decision to allow them to charge students "top-up fees".

The irony that the lecturers' unions bitterly opposed the policy when it was passed by MPs in 2004 will be of little comfort to students. They have had to endure both the stress of preparing for final examinations and the uncertainty of not knowing whether they will graduate on time.