Ayrshire students who study at universities are set to face disruption with staff set for 14 days of strike in February and March.

The University and College Union (UCU) confirmed that the action will start on Thursday, February 20 and escalate each week, culminating with a week-long walkout from Monday 9 to Friday, March 13.

In total there are 13 Scottish universities who will take part in the industrial action which include: Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow School of Art, the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde.

The full strike dates are: February 20-21; February 24-26; March 2-5; Monday March 9-13.

In addition, members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) overwhelmingly backed strike action in a dispute over pay. This will impact students at the University of the West of Scotland with staff going on strike on At the University of the West of Scotland on: February 20, February 25, March 2, March 11 and March 12.

The disputes centre on the sustainability of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and rising costs for members, and on universities’ failure to make significant improvements on pay, equality, casualisation and workloads.

In November and December last year UCU members at 60 universities across the UK walked out for eight days in action that affected around one million students with the next wave of strikes set to impact an additional 200,000 students.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “If universities want to avoid further disruption, they need to deal with rising pension costs, and address the problems over pay and conditions.”