UCU general secretary Jo Grady said the funding regime for higher education was “really unstable” in the UK.

“But then we have institutions like Cardiff, who actually have plenty of reserves… that are choosing to use this moment to restructure, are choosing to use this moment to cut courses,” she said outside the Senedd on Tuesday.

She warned a failure on the part of the Welsh government to invest would have consequences and a “knock-on effect”.

Ms Grady said the union would like to see the Welsh government calling Cardiff University out for the “millions of pounds of reserves” she believes they are “choosing” not to use.

“We would like to see the Welsh government and other elected leaders being clear that Cardiff University has a responsibility to not use staff as shock absorbers of poor management on their behalf,” she said.

Cardiff University said last week its reserves could not be freely used and its running costs outstripped its income by more than £30m in the last academic year.

NUS Cymru president Deio Owen said without a sustainable funding model for the future, there would be a continued decline in higher education in Wales.

“Education is a public good and we need these higher education institutions to provide skills and education for the future,” he said at the protest.

“The government does have a role to play or we will see a continued decline, where public services will be affected in terms of recruitment of staffing research and supportive elements as well by the way universities,” he added.