A five-day strike has begun at the University of Kent - in which staff have walked out over pay, pensions and working conditions.

Staff will be picketing at the university, which has campuses in Canterbury and Medway, as part of the action that is taking part at 67 institutions across the UK.

The University and College Union - which represents more than 120,000 academics and staff nationally - says the strike is over a 35% cut to guaranteed pension income, and "deteriorating pay and working conditions".

General secretary Jo Grady said: "University staff are striking over devastating pension cuts, falling pay and brutal working conditions.

"They have been pushed to breaking point again and again by vice-chancellors and are now saying that they are ready to leave the sector entirely.

"If vice chancellors continue to ignore the longstanding concerns of staff, they will threaten the future of higher education in the UK."

The action comes as UCU members at UKC continue to boycott all assessments and marking, in a local dispute over management’s "refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies in the division of arts and humanities and in the school of anthropology and conservation".

UCU regional support official Ade Phillips said: "We do not want to be in this position, but recent redundancy rounds have already seen more than 300 staff lose their job and any further staff cuts would seriously damage student learning.

"We cannot allow this to happen. We urge management to commit to not making any further compulsory redundancies so that we can end the boycott."

The marking strike began March 3 and could continue into the summer "unless management agrees to protect jobs".

But final-year UKC students say they are already reaching "breaking point" as the recent action has thrown their studies into chaos.

Some in their third year of study fear for their futures after enduring disruption from 10 separate walkouts by staff since 2019 - losing up to 12 weeks of teaching.

But UKC insists "there are no circumstances in which we would risk the integrity and value of our degrees".

Third-year history student Hannah Ash, 21, says she has lost 12 weeks of teaching throughout her time at university due to 10 separate strike actions.

She also believes students - who pay £9,250 a year in tuition fees - should be offered compensation for the disruption.

"I think it is absolutely ridiculous the fact they’re still charging this amount of money," she added.

"I’m paying but not getting anything during the strike weeks."

Third-year law student Maisie Wheeler, 21, says her experience at university has been "pretty awful" because of the strike action and the impact of Covid.

“I think this year everyone has got to breaking point and it has affected our initiative," she said.

“Nothing we do at this point can further our experience and I think we’re giving up with Covid and the strikes."

The University of Kent says it "remains a point of principle that no student should be disadvantaged" by the strike action.

"We know how important it is that the huge effort students put in is appropriately recognised," a spokesman continued.

"Whilst we continue regular discussions with UCU, we are also introducing mitigation plans to minimise disruption to our students, ensuring that students' learning, graduations and future plans can continue without interruption.

"This is about having options available if (and only if) our normal processes are disrupted - we have been clear that there are no circumstances in which we would risk the integrity and value of our degrees.

"We also have not - and would not - dispense with our system of external examiners, whose skill and input remains a vital strand of ensuring the maintenance of our academic standards."

The spokesman added that not all academic staff are UCU members, and not all members are taking strike action.