Student union officials on Saturday announced they will step up their struggle and "hermetically seal off" campuses on Monday, the first day classes are expected to officially resume.

Student representatives said they had acquired 2.5 tons of chains donated as a present from a businessman with which they plan to lock universities gates.

The on-going strike, aimed at lowering tuition fees and increasing government spending on higher education, began over three weeks ago.

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On Thursday, the committee of university heads demanded that students cease their strike and return to classes on Sunday, stating that students that do not do so risk losing their credits for the current semester.

The universities instructed their lecturers to teach on Sunday "even if only one student shows up."

"The party is over," said Thursday Professor Moshe Kaveh, chairman of the committee of university heads, "the students can demonstrate wherever they please, but right now we want to salvage what is left of this semester." According to Kaveh, the continuation of the strike would cause "irreversible damage."