Students formed picket lines and boycotted lectures in protest against tuition fees today.

At Ruskin College, Oxford, members of the National Students Union urged fellow students and tutors to join in the boycott.

Picket lines were held at the college's two campuses in Walton Street and Dunstan Road, Old Headington. About 50 of the 110 residential students joined the protest.

It was part of a nationwide day of action organised by the NUSs.

The protest at Ruskin - a further education college - was aimed at mature students, emphasising that those aged over 50 must guarantee they will pay the £1,050 fee before they can enter college.

Beverley Dixon, 21, studying for a Certificate of Higher Education in computers, said: "Education should be free. We are doing this for the future of my kids when they go to university."

Olly Mason, 23, studying for a CHE in politics said: "We are against fees because they do not promote equality of opportunity. Many of the students next door at Worcester College can afford it, but we are mainly from a working class background."

Oxford University Students Union was due to hold a march today, leaving from Jowett Walk, off Mansfield Road.