Lecture halls, libraries and laboratories at universities across Britain were deserted yesterday as thousands of higher education workers walked out to win fair pay.

Academics, cleaners, administrators, library assistants and other staff who have seen their pay slashed united at picket lines from the early hours.

And students joined in their fight by occupying buildings at Edinburgh, Goldsmiths, Ulster, Sheffield, Exeter, Sussex and Birmingham universities.

Hundreds of classes were cancelled and some institutions were closed completely by the action, according to the University and College Union (UCU).

General secretary Sally Hunt said a massive turnout "meant it has not been business as usual at many of our colleges and universities.

"Staff have reached rock bottom with massive pay cuts over a long period yet they see their institutions ploughing money into new buildings and giving those at the top six-figure salaries," she said.

Members of the academics' union and support staff unions Unite and Unison were striking together for the second time in just over a month.

They were joined yesterday by members of Scottish education union EIS and college lecturers in England.

The dispute broke out after university bosses made workers another below-inflation pay offer of just 1 per cent, following four consecutive years of real-terms cuts.

Unite national officer Mick McCartney said university bosses who "didn't think we had two days of strike action in us" had been proved wrong.

Determined workers braved bitterly cold temperatures and sacrificed part of their Christmas wages to form picket lines and gather at rallies.

Cardiff academic Andy Williams told the Star he was taking action "with a heavy heart" but said he and his colleagues "are really feeling the squeeze."

Unison rep Molly Cooper told a 300-strong rally in central London that pay cuts had left the lowest-paid workers "taking out credit cards and loans or using food banks to live."

Labour MP John McDonnell praised them for standing up to bosses, saying it will "give other people confidence that someone is fighting back."

Speakers also stressed the strikes were about defending the future of education and called for joint action with teaching unions next year.

At Sussex University students not in occupation blocked the road to prevent pro-vice-chancellor Clare Mackie driving through picket lines in her Mercedes.

Activists at six other universities also swooped on key university and civic buildings overnight to begin sit-ins in solidarity with the strikes.

A message from over 100 Goldsmith College students occupying Deptford Town Hall told managers to make savings from their own salaries.

It said: "The university sector has the biggest pay disparity of all public sectors, with the gender pay gap widening with every new government policy of marketisation."