LECTURERS at the University of Bolton walked out today as part of a 48-hour national strike over pay.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) are warning of further action unless the dispute is resolved in the coming weeks. Future strike action will hit open days, graduation ceremonies and the clearing process.

Lecturers have rejected a 1.1 per cent pay offer from employers. They argue that university bosses' pay and benefits went up by 5.1 per cent last year.

Members staged a picket line outside the University of Bolton from 7.30am with others joining a rally in Manchester.

Ian Beesley, course leader of MA Photography at the University of Bolton and vice-chairman of the union at the university, said: “The pay offer is not a lot compared with what university vice-chancellors have been awarded."

He said that the pay rises for university leaders equalled the total salary of one lecturer.

Members say that they have suffered a real terms pay cut of 14 per cent since 2009 and say that they are having to do “more work for less”.

Mr Beesley said: "The cost of living has gone up and it is becoming harder to maintain the standard of living. A lot of students are supporting the action."

Marie Monaghan, UCU’s regional support official, joined the lecturers. She said: “In this economic climate, the pay of university vice-chancellors is not being controlled and it is the hypocrisy which is difficult to understand.”

A spokesman for the University of Bolton said: "The university is aware of a strike today by members of the UCU regarding national pay claims. The majority of teaching and examinations have now finished for this academic year and so there is minimum disruption here at the University of Bolton.

"The university has done everything it can to minimise the impact of any action on students."

The union is also beginning preparations for a boycott of the setting and marking of students' work in autumn.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: "Members have made it clear that they won't tolerate a continued squeeze on their income, pay inequality and the increasing job insecurity blighting the sector. Industrial action which impacts on students is never taken lightly, but members feel that they have been left with no alternative."

Unite, which has members in the higher education sector, said it was consulting on the possibility of joining the action.