“Government ministers have made a further concession to striking lecturers and researchers, postponing introduction of contentious teacher-training reforms by a year. But by the weekend, the six-week strike showed no sign of abating with ongoing university closures and protest actions, including nationwide demonstrations on Wednesday in the tens of thousands. Meanwhile, President Nicolas Sarkozy came under attack by education unions for ‘tackling the problem’ during a lunch with senior academics and researchers. After call from the national strike committee last week, protests intensified with half of France’s universities reported to be on strike or blocked. Toulouse-2 University was closed for three days when students occupied an administration building and caused damage …” (more)
[Jane Marshall, University World News, 15 March]