David Triesman, general secretary of the Association of University Teachers, said academic staff would disrupt exam marking and meetings to decide degree classifications during a series of days of action in June.
The union, which represents academics at the older universities, will also boycott quality inspections and other paperwork in pursuit of a 10% pay claim. If the dispute is not settled before August, it is threatening to play havoc with university admissions.
Mr Triesman said university vice-chancellors had persistently raised their own average salaries by 7% a year. Some had taken increases of more than 20%, he told a rally in London.
A report in yesterday's Guardian suggested the government would block substantial pay increases for lecturers because ministers wanted increases in the higher education budget to be spent on expanding student numbers.
'We paid for the last expansion,' Mr Triesman said. Lecturers' salaries had risen by 38% less than comparable professions since 1981. 'If ministers think they can pick our pockets again, they had better think again.'
Andrew Pakes, president of the National Union of Students, supported the lecturers. 'Improving the pay level is in the interests of students,' he said.
Industrial action might harm a few students in the short term, but it would benefit students in the longer term.
