However, vice-chancellors fear that quality will be hit before the end of the century if the Chancellor does not reverse the cuts.Although most universities will try to reduce jobs through natural wastage and redeployment, the majority will be unable to make the necessary cuts without compulsory redundancies. The universities hope she will use the evidence to argue their case in this year's public expenditure round, but the report, which has been passed to the Independent, is bound to embarrass her. She has maintained that cuts of 50 per cent in capital funding over three years could be largely restored through business sponsorship and that most of the cuts of 5 per cent (in real terms) of overall spending, announced in last November's Budget, could be absorbed through efficiency gains.The report, the result of a joint working group between officials and the universities, reveals that the number of students per lecturer has gone up from 10 in 1986 to 16 today.It maintains that quality has not yet been affected by cash shortages, with the percentage of students gaining a 2:1 or a first rising from 48 to 50 per cent between 1991 and 1994. Officials at the Department for Education and Employment have told Gillian Shephard, the Secretary of State, that spending per student has fallen by one-third since 1989 and will fall by a further fifth in the next three years if new money is not found. Three thousand jobs will be lost in British universities in the next year because of funding cuts, and two-thirds of institutions will be forced to make staff compulsorily redundant, according to a report ordered by ministers.

In addition, BAe has no evidence that Hawk aircraft are being used in a manner contrary to assurances provided by the Indonesian government to the British government."The judgment, which will have repercussions in international jurisprudence and diplomacy, comes at a particularly delicate time for General Suharto who is facing large scale rioting in his capital, Jakarta, after his forces attacked the opposition headquarters and its leader Megawati Sukarnoputra, daughter of the country's founding father, President Sukarno, who led the anti-colonialist struggle in what had been the Dutch East Indies after the Second World War.Figure of hate, page 9. During the trial a 15-minute video which the three women left in the cockpit of the damaged plane was shown to the jury. In it, the women explained their motivation.They said they had good reason to fear that British built warplanes were to be used as part of Indonesia's genocide of the people of East Timor.Amnesty International has estimated that some 200,000 Timorese out of a total population of 600,000 have died under Indonesian rule in the past two decades, a rule which has been winked at by western powers.Britain, the United States, Germany and other suppliers of arms to General Suharto, who seized power in 1965, have traded uninterruptedly with Indonesia despite the fact that a number of British, Australian and other foreign journalists were killed as they reported the Indonesian invasion of 1975.The court in Liverpool was told of a report in the Independent on Sunday in November of last year written by this correspondent from Dili, the capital of East Timor, which told of two Hawks flying low over the city in a bid to intimidate its inhabitants and halt protests against the occupation.The four women successfully argued that they had exhausted all other means of halting British action in support of Indonesia's act of genocide before they undertook their action at Warton which they themselves announced to the factory security staff and responsibility for which they freely and publicly embraced.In her closing speech, Mrs Baird said what the four did was not a publicity stunt, as claimed by the prosecution, but an act of the last resort by women of principle.David Pickup, prosecuting, said the women's "genuine and sincere" beliefs were irrelevant to the issues in the case.In a statement after the verdict BAe said its arms deals with Indonesia had been contracted in conformity with guidelines laid down by the Government: "The company confirms that it operates in accordance with export licences granted by HM Government. All four claimed their actions were justified because the Hawk was destined for Indonesia, where it would be used against the civilians of East Timor.Only Wilson, a former Merseyside councillor, was represented by a barristerThe women claimed they had lawful excuse to disarm the Hawk because they were using reasonable force to prevent a crime. During the seven-day trial the court heard Wilson, Needham and Kronlid cut through the seven-mile perimeter fence at the BAe plant in the early hours of January 29 this year.They broke into hangar 358 and used hammers to damage the plane in 25 places. But the jury accepted the argument of Angie Zelter, 45, Joanna Wilson, 33, Lotta Kronlid, 28, and Andrea Needham, 30 - going under the name the Ploughshare Four - that their action was reasonable under the Genocide Act. The jury of seven men and five women took just over five hours to reach their verdicts. Four women walked free from Liverpool Crown Court yesterday after a jury found them not guilty of criminal charges despite their admission that they did more than pounds 1.5m worth of damage to a Hawk warplane.

The jubilant women had admitted sabotaging the recently built multi-purpose Hawk last January at the British Aerospace plant at Warton, near Preston, for despatch to the Indonesian airforce as part of a series of multi- million pound arms deals with the regime of General Suharto. Now we have to go to the Attorney General and the Court of Appeal to stop this deal now.". But the 12 jurors disagreed, proving that the concept of moral justification is still alive and kicking and that the independence of juries can never be underestimated.The verdict could even be read as a criticism of Government policy over arms sales.Joanna Wilson said: "It's a victory for justice, a victory for the people of East Timor and at least the people of Liverpool have recognised a crime has been committed by British Aerospace and the British government."Angela Zelter said: "The British people know what is right and what is wrong. They claimed they had lawful excuse to disarm the aircraft because they were using reasonable force to prevent a crime.David Pickup, for the prosecution, said the women's "genuine and sincere" beliefs were irrelevant to the issues in the case.

No wonder British Aerospace was surprised.But while critics claimed the Ponting jury reached a "perverse" verdict, the women had sought to run the long-standing argument that they had committed a crime in the name of preventing a greater crime.The idea that some crimes can be committed for the greater good has been accepted by juries down the centuries, keeping it alive in the minds of campaigners with a strong sense of injustice.Perhaps the fact that three of the four women were unrepresented and addressed the jury themselves played a part. Depending on your standpoint, yesterday's verdict either restored faith in the jury system or cast serious doubt upon it. The case recalls memories of civil service whistleblower Clive Ponting's acquittal on official secrets charges when the weight of the case seemed against him. In this case, there was never any doubt about what the defendants did They not only admitted it but publicised it. "There is really no need at this stage of the 20th century for the nation to be brought to a halt by one narrow self-serving interest in a monopoly public service."Senior ministerial sources indicated there were likely to be announcements at the Tory party conference at Bournemouth in October.In defiance of their leadership the 24-strong postal executive of the CWU rejected a formula thrashed out at conciliation service Acas. It opposed "team-working" and insisted that 30 per cent of the mail should be set aside for the second delivery to protect jobs.The union suspended a 48-hour stoppage due to begin today, but another day-long strike is scheduled for next Tuesday and the executive is expected to set dates for further action when it meets next Monday.Union leaders now expect the Government to carry out its threat to suspend the Royal Mail's monopoly on delivering letters for less than pounds 1..