A report published on Thursday says they can only afford to spend about half of what they should on maintenance.

As a result students are being taught in buildings that break health and safety laws, according to research commissioned by Universities UK (UUK).

It said the cash call is part of its overall demand for �10bn over three years for universities in next month's comprehensive spending review.

Students are being taught in conditions none of us would be proud of

JM Consulting director Jim Port

The report says one university needs �17m just to demolish an "appalling" building that, despite being built 25 years ago, has never been completed.

At another, laboratories built in the 1950s and 1960s are an "embarrassment", prompting weekly complaints about dirt and noise.

The study, carried out by JM Consulting, looked at 23 higher education institutions in the UK.

It found whole campuses built in the 1960s and 1970s, including Sussex and York, were coming to the end of their intended life-spans.

'Dangerous'

Its director Jim Port said: "Students are being taught in conditions none of us would be proud of.

"The higher education infrastructure overall is old, designed in a different era, poorly maintained and often not fit for 21st-century purposes."

UUK president Sir Roderick Floud said it would be fairer to ask the taxpayer to foot the bill, rather than charge future students higher fees to pay for the investment.

"The main problem is poor facilities and facilities that, unless something is done about them, are in danger of becoming dangerous," he said.

The main problem is poor facilities and facilities that, unless something is done about them, are in danger of becoming dangerous

UUK President Sir Roderick Floud

"We are trying to provide training and education for students to enter the world of work and we need for that the kinds of facilities they are going to have when they are at work and at the moment there is a big gap.

"It must be depressing for students to have to be taught in inadequate accommodation.

"Sometimes they are in lecture rooms where they cannot properly see the blackboard or hear the teacher."

UUK is demanding the government commits to giving universities �10bn over three years in next month's comprehensive spending review.

Sir Roderick says it would help them meet the government's target that, by 2010, half of all people under the age of 30 should have gone through higher education.

But the universities have tough competition. Hospitals, railways and schools are all ahead of them in the money queue.