May I take this opportunity to respond to your article Union Strikes Back (May 24).

It seems to me that both sides in this argument, the university and the union, are forgetting the student in all this.

Students now have to pay top-up fees of up to a £1,000 annually for their education and now may be unable to graduate this year; all because of the action of a few lecturers who probably achieved their qualifications when tuitions was free. The university wants to treat education as a business but is unable to provide the goods, ie the degree, because of a lack of understanding of the lecturers' point of view.

As a nurse of more than 30 years' experience who has never taken industrial action I fail to see what this is all about.

Surely it is ethically wrong to make the graduates suffer in this way. They like everyone else after three years' hard work should be able to celebrate and not worry about the future.

I urge the university and lecturers to come to an understanding and represent their students. Education is already becoming "only for the wealthy" with fees rising annually.

It's time to believe in what you are doing instead of just seeking another slice of the cake.

Jane Mallinson, Otterwood Bank, Acomb, York.