Staff at 58 UK universities will go on strike between 1 and 3 December, causing further disruption for students in the run-up to Christmas, according to the BBC.
They are walking out over pensions, pay and working conditions.
The University and College Union (UCU) said more action was “likely” if demands were not met, and urged employers to “get round the table”.
Universities UK (UUK) said institutions would “ensure that students can continue to learn”.
The Universities and College Employers Association (UCEA) said strikes were an “unrealistic attempt” to reopen pay discussions.
The announcement means further turmoil for students, many of whom experienced strikes shortly before months of disruption during the pandemic.
At the start of the month, staff at 58 universities voted in favour of more strike action.
Some of them are striking over pensions – a dispute which has been rumbling on for nearly a decade, and was reignited because of what the UCU described as a “flawed valuation” of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pension fund.
The UCU said it was “carried out at the start of the pandemic when global markets were crashing” and would lower members’ guaranteed retirement income by 35%.
Others are striking over pay and working conditions. The UCU has demanded a £2,500 pay increase for members, an end to “pay injustice” and zero-hours contracts, and action to tackle “unmanageable workloads”.
Staff at 33 institutions are taking action over both.
A further six institutions will not see strikes, but staff voted for action short of a strike over pay. The UCU said this would begin on 1 December, and could last for the five months that staff have a mandate for – and would “include strictly working to contract and refusing any additional duties”.
