News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Ben Gurion University of the Negev President Rivka Carmi said Monday the country's university lecturers were trying hard to save the 2008-09 academic year, but warned that time is running out.

Speaking at a meeting of senior academics trying to end the three-month-old lecturer's strike, Carmi said she is "pessimistic" about chances of success. "The goal of today's meeting was to see if we could push off the end by a day or two," she said. "In my opinion, that's not going to happen," she said.

Lecturers at all Israeli universities have been on strike since October to demand significant increases in salaries.