UNIVERSITY staff are set to stage more walkouts in a wave of strikes planned over the next few weeks due to an ongoing dispute over pay.

Students at the University of Chester, which has a campus in Padgate, could see their lessons disrupted during the series of two-hour strikes.

The first is scheduled to take place on Thursday between 11am and 1pm.

A second strike will follow on Tuesday, January 28, between 2pm and 4pm with a third strike planned for Monday, February 10, between 9am and 11am.

Staff are protesting over a 1 per cent pay rise offered to university staff.

The University and College Union general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: "Despite another embarrassing round of embarrassing revelations about the very handsome pay rises those at the very top have enjoyed recently, universities are still refusing to improve a miserly 1 per cent pay offer and are still oblivious to the hypocrisy of their actions.

"Any kind of disruption is always a last resort but, after five years of pay suppression and members 13 per cent worse off in real terms, we have little option but to escalate our action."

Unions also warned that they have not ruled out boycotting exam marking, which could potentially leave students without a final degree mark.

A spokesman for the University of Chester said: “The University and College Union has confirmed it is planning a series of strikes during January and February.

“The University will be open for business as usual on the proposed dates and every effort will be made by the university management to minimise the disruption to its students.”