The exact dates of the industrial action will be confirmed next week.
The Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which represents university employers, made UCU a pay offer worth between 4% and 5% Wednesday but UCU said the offer was "not enough. "
"Today our union came together to back an unprecedented program of escalating strike action. The clock is now ticking for the sector to produce a deal or be hit with widespread disruption," UCU General Secretary Jo Grady said in a statement.
"University staff dedicate their lives to education and they want to get back to work, but that will only happen if university vice-chancellors use the vast wealth of the sector to address over a decade of falling pay, rampant insecure employment practices and devastating pension cuts. The choice is theirs."
The UCU will also re-ballot staff at all 150 universities to renew its mandate and allow walkouts to be called well into 2023, including a marking and assessment boycott from April, unless the disputes are settled.
Meanwhile, nearly 100,000 civil servants will go on strike on Feb. 1 over pay, jobs and working conditions, calling for a 10% pay increase, which the government considers "unaffordable."