Now that the new millennium is underway, in the last of a series, Andrew Pakes, President of the National Union of Students, sets out his hopes for education this year.

Now that the findings of the Cubie Report have been announced, the knock-on effects for students in the rest of the country mean the year 2000 will be an exciting time for lobbying and campaigning government to call for an end to tuition fees for the whole of the country's students.

NUS is organising a lobby of parliament in February to push the message home to MPs that tuition fees destroy access to university.

Students' biggest worry for this year will inevitably not be exam results but increasing debt.

This clearly causes severe stress to thousands of students and results in many dropping out of their courses.

NUS would like to see proper maintenance support packages put in place for students, an end to tuition fees and an end to the threat of top-up fees.

We want students to be able to study at college without the worry of dropping out and without working in low paid jobs with unsafe conditions just to meet basic living costs.

At the end of November last year, NUS organised a National March for Education calling for an end to tuition fees, an end to hardship, and decent pay for those students who have to work and study.

Nearly 15,000 students travelled across the country to converge on London to take part in the biggest student march this decade.

At the start of April, many of the students who took part in the protest will gather together in Blackpool for the NUS Annual Conference.

Nearly 2,000 students descend on the beach resort to discuss, over four days, education policy and concerns of students in further and higher education.

New policies and campaigns will be debated, and some will be passed as policy for NUS to take action on.

This is where the executive of NUS for 2000/01 will also be elected.