Suzie We normally only use postgrads as notetakers and pay them the postgrad demonstrator rate of strl. 8.15 per hour. They take notes for one hour and then spend a notional second hour ( often longer ) editing and wordprocessing these so that the student gets a very accurate, clear summary of what was said - but it does, therefore, work out at strl. 16.30 per lecture. If you divide that into the total available for non-medical support for one year ( ??4.900 ) it will provide cover for *about* 296 lecture classes. Divide that by *say* 20 teaching weeks and you get nearly 15 lectures per week. Hope this is helpful Roger Thomas %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%