The "hypocrisy" of huge pay rises for university bosses behind a fifth annual below-inflation offer for workers will galvanise support for strikes, academics union UCU said yesterday.

Vice-chancellors of 19 of Britain's elite Russell Group universities saw their salaries leap by £22,000 to £293,000 on average last year, according to a Times Higher Education study.

Their pool was even bigger when pensions were added, leaving the fat cats lapping up £318,500 compared to £302,500 in 2011-12.

And the same bosses enjoying an 8 per cent salary rise have insisted their staff should settle for a 1 per cent increase.

That would represent the fifth year of real-terms pay cuts for lecturers, administrators and cleaners, who have seen pay fall by 13 per cent since 2009.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: "It is the startling hypocrisy that grates more than the actual rises.

"Many vice-chancellors have talked down to their staff and told them to accept a 1 per cent rise - representing yet another real-terms pay cut - as it is the best they can expect, while happily pocketing big sums themselves."

Members of UCU joined those represented by Unison, Unite and Scottish education union EIS on the picket lines twice last year.

And Ms Hunt added: "If the dispute is unresolved these controversial rises will galvanise union members who are determined to fight for fair pay."

Southampton University's Don Nutbeam was among bosses to enjoy a rise, seeing his salary soar by £19,015 to £294,000 and total package to £333,615.

A university spokesman said: "It is appropriate that the vice-chancellor of such a large, complex, international institution should be competitively remunerated."

But Unison general secretary Dave Prentis called the pay revelations "obscene."

"Low-paid workers in higher education who have scraped by over Christmas to provide for their families will be incensed by the huge pay increases awarded to vice chancellors," he said.

"Universities must do more to invest in their lowest-paid employees and reward hard-working staff with a pay rise that meets the rising cost of living."