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£300,000 for university chiefs but they want student fees to go up
Tim Ross, Education Correspondent19 Mar 2009
UNIVERSITY vice-chancellors were condemned today for taking home huge pay rises as they demanded the power to charge students higher tuition fees.
In London, three vice-chancellors were paid more than £300,000 during 2007/08 after receiving what critics called "exorbitant" increases.
Five university leaders in the capital made it into the top 10 in the UK vice-chancellors "rich list", compiled by the Times Higher Education magazine.
Across the country, the average pay rise for vice-chancellors last year was nine per cent taking salaries to an average of £194,000.
The details emerged two days after vice-chancellors called for undergraduate tuition fees to be doubled to £6,500 a year. They claimed that without more funding degree courses would have to be cut and Britain's status as a world leader for research and education would be put at risk.
Lecturers have criticised their bosses for taking home large pay rises while limiting the salaries of academic staff and warning of redundancies.
Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: "It should not come as a surprise that staff are sometimes sceptical when their leaders ask for belts to be tightened.
"Nor should the Government or universities be surprised that the public are outraged when university leaders call for increased fees and greater student debt."
Imperial College London, London Business School and University of the Arts all paid their bosses at least £300,000 during 2007/08.
Imperial paid a total of £429,000 to its outgoing vice-chancellor Sir Richard Sykes and his successor Sir Roy Anderson in 2007/08. This was up 23.3 per cent from £348,000 in the previous year.
A spokesman for Imperial said: "The demands of this job are high and the salary reflects that. It is worth noting that the 2008 number is an amalgam of payments made to the departing Rector and to his successor, whose starting salary was at a lower level."
Thames Valley University paid £291,000, which represented an 80.7 per cent rise and is the second biggest increase in the UK behind Sir Colin Campbell at the University of Nottingham. Laura Tyson at London Business School received a 18.6 per cent rise in salary to £364,000, and Sir Michael Bichard at the University of the Arts received a 41.9 per cent rise to take home £307,603 last year.
Reader views (11)
If Cameron and Brown were at University today Cameron would pay £3,000 per year and Brown would pay nothing! English generosity!
- Dave, London England, 19/03/2009 15:08
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Just how much student debt did the Vice Chancellors, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron leave University with?
A graduate tax would give each of them the chance to contribute towards the cost of education over their working life, instead of taking a grant for their education and demanding the rest of us pay upfront for ours. This would be fairer as it would mean that poorly paid post degree careers such as Nursing or Archaeology can contribute a % of their earnings rather than having to pay the same as Medical, Accountancy, Banking or Law graduates who enjoy substantially higher incomes.
As income tax is already paid by anyone in work all you would have to do is introduce a 'graduate tax' code (+1%) and a 'postgraduate tax' code (+0.5%) for every tax payer who has been to University. This would be cheaper to administer than the current student loan system, would do away with an unnecessary beaucracy and give the chance for those who advocate student tuition fees to practice what they preach by contributing towards the cost of their tax payer subsidised education.
Otherwise the Vice Chancellors and the politicians are in affect pulling up the ladder behind them and making todays students accept a level of debt that they were not prepared to do themselves when they were students.
- Dm, London, 19/03/2009 14:07
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Count yourselves lucky that UK University only cost 3k a year, at 6k its still a bargain! US colleges like Harvard et al cost upwards of $50,000 a year! More than Eton or Harrow!!
- James Macleod Ritchie, Oyster Bay Cove, 19/03/2009 13:45
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These same fat cats are telling the university staff that do the real work (often including 10-20 hours of unpaid overtime) to accept a pay freeze.
There was a time when university vice-chancellor was a part-time job for an academic near retirement, who got no more than his professor's salary and a chance to hob-nob with royalty and other high-ups. Many would say universities were better in those days. Certainly, not paying fat cats their obscene six-figure salaries would pay for quite a few more junior lecturers.
- Nigel, London, 19/03/2009 13:02
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London Metropolitan University is one of the countries worse run Universities.
But the VC is one of the highest paid VCs in the country.
They are making 700 people redundant but the senior management team are still getting big bonuses!!!!
Public sector fat cats!!!!
- Carl, london, 19/03/2009 12:40
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They no doubt also have generous final salary pension arrangements and are provided with accommodation that would be the envy of many a millionaire. Add it all up and you're probably looking at packages worth in excess of half a million a year.
- Andrew, london, 19/03/2009 11:54
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One of the VCs alluded to above, Brian Roper of London Metropolitan, has this morning "stepped down with immediate effect to pursue other interests".
- John, Bedford, 19/03/2009 11:52
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WE HEAR A LOT ABOUT THE MINIMUM WAGE BUT WHAT ABOUT A MAXIMUM WAGE> WHERE WOULD EVENING STANDARD READERS SET IT> MYSELF £100 000> ITS SAID MANY WOULD LEAVE THE COUNTRY BUT AS WE SEE THE FAILINGS OF POLITICIANS ,BANKERS, AND NHS ADMINISTRATORS WOULD ANY BE MISSED
- Alan Green, Woodford Green, 19/03/2009 10:53
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So... university VCs are just as greedy/out-of-touch with the ordinary earnings of ordinary people as bankers?
What happened to job/intellectual satisfaction being its own reward?
What do you DO with £300,000 a year? I live reasonably well-on my professional salary of £32k p.a.- and I'm a lone parent...
- Ordinary Earner, Essex, 19/03/2009 10:53
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It's not only the bankers with their snouts in the trough! I think I'll become Scottish so that my kids can go to University for free .........
- Paul, London, 19/03/2009 10:47
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Just what do our children get for these fees £3.000 ayear my son attends two lectures per week a total of 4 hours. The academic year is 30 weeks long.So thats 120 hours a year.Surely The anwser is to cut the three years to two years
- Dave Smith, Croydon, 19/03/2009 10:43
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