Oxford's universities are struggling to attract top-grade lecturers because pay is up to £50,000 a year less than than competing overseas universities offer.

Both Oxford and Oxford Brookes universities have joined the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) in seeking extra Government money to recruit lecturers with international standing. Without extra money, the universities and the union say the quality of lecturing will decline, undermining Oxford's reputation for academic excellence.

The universities said the Government should provide additional money to bring salaries in line with counterparts overseas and help meet the high cost of living in the area.

The union's general secretary, Paul Mackney, said: "Students have to be confident that they'll get the teaching and support needed to see them through to a high-quality qualification. High expectations and low pay for teaching and research don't add up."

NATFHE said the Government needs to spend an extra £675m to bring lecturers' salaries up to an acceptable level.

Lecturers in UK universities earn an average of £50,000 a year less in pay and benefits than those in Canada and Italy, and £30,000 less than their colleagues in the USA.

The average British lecturer earns about £21,800. In Europe, only lecturers in Greece, Turkey and the Czech Republic earn less.

Britain is tenth in a league table comparing the spending power of lecturers and researchers in 15 countries.

The findings coincide with the results of a poll of vice-chancellors at the UK's top research-led universities -- including Oxford University's Dr Colin Lucas.

It learned that universities were finding it increasingly difficult to recruit good staff in subjects such as IT, engineering, economics and medicine.

Oxford University last year introduced more flexibility in setting lecturers' salaries.

A spokesman said: "The university believes that additional payments, in exceptional cases, are necessary to attract and keep the best lecturers in all disciplines working in Oxford."

Salaries at Oxford Brookes University range from £16,000 for a junior lecturer to £39,000 for a principal lecturer.

A spokesman for the university said: "Obviously we would welcome any

increase in government funding to improve the level of lecturers pay which has fallen badly behind over the past decade."

A NATFHE spokesman said: "The universities are concerned that there is beginning to be a problem in the recruitment of world class academics.

"The Government has to address the whole problem of declining pay levels if we are going to maintain our reputation as a world class Higher Education system.

"Lecturers at Oxford are typical of lecturers across the country. There are real concerns over the level of pay."

The National Audit Office says that Oxford University is among the worst when it comes to attracting working class students.

The London School of Economics has the lowest proportion followed by Bristol University, Cambridge and then Oxford.