Staff at Brighton University, Sussex University and the Institute of Development Studies are to go on strike for three days next month.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) will walk out from Wednesday 1 December to Friday 3 December.
The strike, involving staff at dozens of universities across the country, is in response to disputes over pensions, pay and working conditions.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said that more industrial action could take place in the spring if the row with employers remains unresolved.
Earlier this month, UCU members backed strike action in two separate disputes, one on pensions and one on pay and working conditions.
As well as the three strike days, union members will begin other forms of industrial action from Wednesday 1 December, including working strictly to their contracts and refusing any additional duties.
The work to rule could last for up to five months, in line with the mandate to take industrial action, the UCU said.
Dr Grady said: “Strikes over three consecutive days are set to hit university campuses next month unless employers get round the table and take staff concerns over pension cuts, pay and working conditions seriously.
“UCU has repeatedly asked employers to meet with us to try to resolve these disputes.
“But while we set out pragmatic solutions that could halt widespread disruption to UK campuses, university bosses refuse to revoke unnecessary, swingeing pension cuts or even to negotiate on issues like casualisation and the unbearably high workloads that blight higher education.
“A resolution to this dispute is simple. But if employers remain intent on slashing pensions and exploiting staff who have kept this sector afloat during a pandemic then campuses will face strike action before Christmas, which will escalate into spring with re-ballots and further industrial action.”
The UCU said that cuts to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pensions scheme would reduce the guaranteed retirement income of a typical member by 35 per cent.
It also said that pay for university staff fell by 17.6 per cent relative to inflation between 2009 and 2019 – and since then employers have made below-inflation offers, with the latest worth 1.5 per cent.
The UCU held a series of walkouts in 2019 and early 2020 over pensions, pay and conditions, which affected universities across Britain. There was also strike action in 2018 amid a row over pensions.
National Union of Students (NUS) president Larissa Kennedy said: “With vice-chancellors’ average total pay packets rising to £269,000 per year, it’s clear employers can afford to resolve their dispute with UCU over staff pay, which has fallen by an average of 20 per cent in real terms since 2009.
With salaries as in the article quoted, they should stay out on strike.
Nobody will miss them.
The quoted figure is for the Vice Chancellors of universities – counter-intuitively, the top role in a university is the VC.
Lecturers and support staff make approximately a tenth that amount, and are getting an effective pay cut every year.
Nice try to deflect, but no way.
The average university lecturer salary is £45,187 within the UK.
Unless you mean the VC is on £450,000.
I think that’s the effect of a few high earners dragging the mean up. https://www.discoverphds.com/advice/after/lecturer-and-professor-salaries
However, you’re quite right and I was not as accurate as I could have been.