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The scandalous hike in the pay of vice-chancellors is morally offensive ("Heads enjoy 100 per cent rise in pay over ten years", February 25).

The recent news that lecturers work the longest unpaid hours in a country that has the longest working week in Europe provides another indication of the debased nature of higher education. As a member of lecturers' union Natfhe for the past 20 years, it is depressing to hear its spokespeople (and those of the Association of University Teachers) repeat the same banalities about the state of higher education. We need strategy and action. Otherwise, I am willing to bet that the same timid sentiments will be expressed by union leaders over another hike next year with the same predictable outcome, namely doing nothing about it.

Joe Sim

Liverpool John Moores University