The University and College Union said that the institution had announced seven lots of job cuts during the past year and that ¡°dozens¡± more posts remained at risk.

Salford said the decision to strike was ¡°disappointing¡± because it had made ¡°significant progress in mitigating compulsory redundancy¡± during discussions with the union.

Martyn Moss, UCU regional official, said that members had ¡°made it clear¡± that they would strike to ¡°defend their jobs¡±.

¡°The last thing anyone wants is disruption, but the university has to understand the anger felt by members who have faced round after round of job cuts,¡± he said.

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¡°There is understandably a lot of worry and stress at the moment, which is reflected in members¡¯ determination to take action and in the mandate they have for more action after Tuesday. However, the door remains open for the university to sit down with us to resolve the dispute without the need for further action,¡± he added.

The university said that it would continue to talk to the union in the coming weeks.

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¡°It would be regrettable if any action adversely impacted on our students, particularly with regard to the marking of exams or their graduation,¡± a Salford spokeswoman said.

¡°We are committed to ensuring that there are no detrimental changes to the teaching, learning and assessment of our students and will ensure that they are kept informed of any developments.¡±

In May, it emerged that Salford would shut its Italian department because it said programmes were too expensive to teach.

david.matthews@tsleducation.com