Lecturers at Oxfordshire's college of further education will hold a two-day strike next week, in protest at low pay.

The strike on Tuesday and Wednesday is being called by the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE).

It will disrupt teaching at the Oxpens Road college, its campus in Blackbird Leys, Abingdon and Witney College and North Oxfordshire College in Banbury.

The strike is part of national action involving more than 30,000 lecturers, after the rejection of a 1.5 per cent pay offer from the college employers' body, the Association of Colleges. But colleges are making efforts to minimise the disruption and say they will stay open.

Lecturers and members of other college workers' unions are demanding a substantial pay rise to bring them into line with school teachers and public sector employees. College lecturers' pay is about 10 per cent behind that of teachers.

John Kelly, vice-principal of Oxford College, said: "We have made contingency plans and there will be no impact at all on students completing assessments or doing exams."

North Oxfordshire College College marketing manager Sarah Burns said transport to and from the college would run as normal and exams would not be affected.

Ms Burns added: "The college management and students share the union's worries about pay because it affects the recruitment of staff."

The principal of Abingdon and Witney College, Bob Challis, said: "We are making arrangements so students don't suffer too much."