Part-time lecturers could gain improved pension rights following an opinion issued by the advocate-general of the European Court of Justice, Philippe Leger.
Mr Leger said that part-time staff should be able to claim retrospective membership of occupational pension schemes back to April 1976. Part-time workers were denied membership of company pension schemes before 1995 under rules now deemed discriminatory.
Staff must start legal proceedings within six months of finishing a contract so those on fixed-term contracts will not fully benefit from changes in the law.
The opinion received a mixed response from Natfhe, the university and colleges lecturers' union.
Tom Wilson, head of Natfhe's university section, said: "We welcome this opinion in general terms.
"Part-time workers should be entitled to the same pension rights as full-timers. However, we deplore the position on fixed-term contracts." The case was brought by 22 British employees on behalf of 60,000 people who have started actions in United Kingdom courts.
The Bett committee estimated that more than a third of academics - some 30,000 people - work part-time.
Those on fixed-term contracts account for 13 per cent of the total workforce; the Bett committee did not break down this category into part-time and full-time workers.
The costs to employers are unclear. Part-time employees would first have to pay retrospective contributions to company pension schemes before they could secure retrospective membership.
The European Court of Justice is expected to pass judgement within the next few months.