BRITISH universities face a campus clash this autumn, as lecturers nationwide vote on whether to strike against poor conditions.

Teaching staff represented by University College Union (UCU) will be balloting on whether to return to strike action over a number of issues, the union revealed today.

The Star understands that staff at a total of 147 universities will be balloting on whether to take strike action.

This is more than double the number of universities that participated in the wave of strikes earlier this year and signifies a dramatic escalation in an ongoing confrontation between workers and education bosses.

The union confirmed the ballot will open for UCU members next Thursday August 30 and close on October 19, with the union formally recommending that all members vote Yes to both walkouts and action short of a strike.

There will also be ballots at the same time for industrial action in a similar of number of further education colleges for similar reasons, related to terms and conditions.

Ongoing staff frustrations and the sorry state of modern higher education are among the reasons the UCU has given for launching the shock ballot.

A wave of militancy that swept universities earlier this year, after UCU branches at 61 institutions walked out, has also contributed.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt told the Star: "Staff working in our universities and colleges have had enough of seeing their wages held down while those at the top have pocketed handsome rises.

"Years of below-inflation pay deals have left us with no alternative but to ballot for industrial action. Universities and colleges need to make investment in staff a top priority."

Ms Hunt urged education chiefs to make meaningful financial investments in their workers their “top priority,” saying that reversing the serious decline and value of lecturers’ pay is vital to trust in the system.

Frustration within the education system from lecturers relates to the growing sense of precariousness among university workers, with a sharp rise in zero-hours contracts and casual contracts, leaving a huge number of the UCU membership reliant on insecure employment contracts.

Staff have also voiced their long-term irritation with a perceived lack of accountability at the top of the system, with accusations across the board that vice chancellors’ pay has spiralled out of control over the past decade.

Ms Hunt added that concerns must be addressed over the university gender pay gap and that the growth of zero-hours contracts in British further and higher education must be reversed.