Students kicked off a month of protests as yesterday marked “vice-chancellor’s pay day” — the time it took university bosses to earn as much as some of their employees do annually.

Students at Oxford University were the first to take action as the university’s head Andrew Hamilton had already raked in more than £14,000 in the first 12 days of the year.

Meanwhile the lowest pay grade for full-time staff at the university is currently £14,959 a year.

Oxford Defend Education member Kate Bradley told the Star she helped organise a social media storm to stop management “turning universities from public services into businesses.”

Throughout the day, Facebook and Twitter were inundated with messages to the vice-chancellor as well as information on the huge disparity between Mr Hamilton’s pay and that of other university workers.

“I think the salaries which top managers in higher education take reflect their new view of themselves as CEOs, and this trend needs to be stopped if we want education to be fair, democratic and accessible to all,” said Ms Bradley.

“Asking our vice-chancellor to give up some of his £442,000 pay package is only the start — we hope that this can become a campaign against wage inequality, student fees and austerity measures as they manifest at Oxford.”

The call for action was originally launched by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts which is currently demanding a 5:1 pay ratio at all British schools, colleges and universities.

Additionally, the group has called for the implementation of the living wage across the educational system.

Further protests and publicity stunts are expected at Birmingham University today, Warwick on January 15 and two London colleges next week.