Action already approved will be escalated if it doesn't elicit a higher offer.Behind all the macho talk and action lies the long-awaited report from the committee of inquiry into academic pay and conditions chaired by Sir Michael Bett, a senior civil servant. Initially, this was to be published last October but the date has slipped repeatedly, partly because of illness in the secretariat but also because unions and employers have found it so difficult to agree on anything. Another meeting has now been scheduled for the end of May, and publication is expected next month.Academics are determined to show they are not waiting for Bett. They also want to drum up as much noise and disruption as possible in advance of Bett, so that the Government pays the recommendations some heed when they finally come out.The inquiry is expected to recommend a substantial pay increase for all higher education employees averaging about 10 per cent spread over three years. Those at the top end of the scale - professors - should receive proportionately more, it says. So should junior lecturers, clerical and research staff - with the lowest-paid academic staff, usually researchers in "new" universities, perhaps getting as much as 45 per cent more.

Both groups are considered to be badly paid relative to comparable staff elsewhere.The universities are adamant that they cannot fund such a pay rise over and above normal annual pay increases. They also say they cannot find the money to bring the pay of women in higher education into line with that of men - unless, of course, they receive extra cash from the Government. Research undertaken for the Bett inquiry found that women's pay lags behind men's at almost every level, and women are less likely than men to be promoted. One estimate is that it would cost pounds 700m to put right the sex discrimination and give the university sector the pay boost it deserves.The Government is thought to be more vulnerable to pressure on equal opportunities than on pay generally. Certainly, the unions and employers are expected to play the equal opportunities card, arguing that universities will be wide open to being sued under the Equal Pay Act unless they are helped. Complainants could argue, for example, that university secretaries, who are 99 per cent women, do the same kind of work as lower-grade administrative staff and should be paid the same, not less as at present. Women lecturers could use similar arguments to claim equal pay with their male colleagues.Legal opinion suggests that universities would lose lawsuits in the United Kingdom and Europe and would end up having to shell out large sums of money that could by found only through redundancies and a complete halt to new building.

Ministers may shun the feminist label but they are unlikely to relish the sight of British universities being dragged through the European Court of Justice - and then having to get rid of staff to pay for their humiliation.On the subject of a general pay hike for academics to overcome the historic shortfall and to iron out anomalies, the Government is not expected to give way without extracting substantial concessions. One is performance- related pay, an issue that has infuriated the teaching profession and could anger academics (The matter is expected to be dealt with in Bett). Another is abolition of scale posts and a single salary spine, to release higher education from the dark ages that have seen a proliferation of bargaining groups - academic, academic-related, technical, manual and clerical - and ossified grading structures.The issue of a single salary structure linked to job evaluation divided the Bett Committee. The AUT was strongly opposed; Unison, representing clerical and manual workers, was in favour; so were the employers.Because of the dissent Bett is believed to have come up with an "interim" recommendation.

This provides for an overarching national joint council to set minimum terms and conditions for all higher education staff. Two bodies would feed into it: one for academics; the other for all remaining staff. The second body would contain academically-related staff including librarians, research officers and secretaries as well as manual employees.Although that proposal gives the employers two negotiating groups rather than the one they wanted, it is a step towards what is known as "single- table bargaining", dealing with all groups in the sector together. The Government may insist it be taken to its logical conclusion in return for more money for pay in academe.In the meantime, universities are hunkering down for a season of prolonged industrial turmoil. Most vice-chancellors agree that the action beginning next week will have an effect. "It will puncture any complacency that vice-chancellors may have about the strength of feeling about pay on campuses," says Ivor Crewe, vice-chancellor of Essex University. "The pay problem is getting worse and is affecting recruitment in some subjects, particularly business and management, computing, electronic engineering and economics."If the Treasury can be given evidence of a failure to recruit in those areas and if university staff are prepared to compromise on some key issues, a deal could be struck.e-mail: lucy scribbl.demon.co.uk.

Age: 14 History: Born in 1985 out of the inspired teaching of Nadine Senior at Harehills middle school in Leeds. So successful was she at producing young dancers that Leeds City Council decided to capitalise on her success and fund a local authority training establishment. Address: In a converted synagogue on Chapeltown Road, Leeds, which is the former Jewish quarter.Ambience: Gritty part of the inner city, now inhabited by Asians and Afro-Caribbeans. The synagogue with its beautiful copper dome has been converted at a cost of pounds 3.2m and is now the college's theatre, seating 270 people.Vital statistics: Small but perfectly formed college of higher education with just over 160 students (one-quarter of whom are men), taking a three- year bachelor of performing arts (dance) degree. Another 25 take a foundation course - an access course for those who get through an audition This is a college like no other. The degree is very hard work - 9am to 5pm non-stop physical exertion You have to be committed to survive Atmosphere of close-knit exhaustion Degrees are validated by Leeds University. In fact, this is an affiliated college of the university.Added value: If you manage to get in, you'll get tip-top dance training which could take you to the top of the profession. This is a vocational course at one of the few specialist vocational dance training institutions that exist in the state sector.