University vice-chancellors received an average salary package of £277,834 in the last academic year – more than six times the average pay of their staff – according to a new survey by the universities union.
The report, released on Thursday by the University and College Union (UCU), revealed that 24 British universities had increased packages to their vice-chancellors by 10% or more in 2015-16. Fifty-five universities paid their heads more than £300,000, 11 vice-chancellors now have a package worth more than £400,000 a year, and one vice-chancellor saw her salary increase by 31% in a year.
The union has amplified its calls for the government to enforce proper scrutiny of the salary and perks afforded to so-called academic fat cats, at a time when rising tuition fees are burdening students with unprecedented levels of debt. As independent entities, universities set pay themselves. Some will be allowed to increase their fees above £9,000 a year from September under the newly introduced “teaching excellence framework”.
“Those at the very top in our universities need to rein in the largesse that embarrasses the sector and the government needs to enforce proper scrutiny of their pay and perks,” said UCU’s general secretary, Sally Hunt.
Overall, vice-chancellors saw their salary package increase by 2% on the previous year, double the rise given to other staff. Top of the league was the University of Southampton, which spent almost £700,000 in the last academic year on vice-chancellors’ pay. This included a £252,000 payoff to the outgoing vice-chancellor, Prof Don Nutbeam, thought to be one of the biggest ever handed to a university chief. The professor of public health received the golden goodbye as “compensation for loss of office” after retiring one year earlier than planned.
The University of Bath’s vice-chancellor, Dame Glynis Breakwell, was the highest paid university head in 2015-16, receiving a package worth £451,000, a rise of 11%.
Debra Humphris at the University of Brighton saw her package increase by 31%. Richard Lister at University Campus Suffolk, Malcolm Press at Manchester Metropolitan University and Prof John Vinney from the University of Bournemouth all enjoyed pay rises of more than 20%.
Six of the universities in the top 10 for the largest percentage rise in salary paid two people for some of the year as they changed vice-chancellors during 2015-16.
The UCU submitted FOI requests to 160 British higher education institutions in October. In addition to salaries, it examined heads’ spending on flights, hotels and expenses. It found that vice-chancellors spent an average of £7,762 on flights, down on the average of £8,560 the previous year. However, two-thirds of those flights were taken in business or first class compared with just half the previous year.
Twenty-two vice-chancellors flew exclusively in first class or business class, with the biggest spender being the University of Warwick, which funded £46,348 worth of flights – 99% of them in first or business class.
Vice-chancellors also spent an average of £2,982 on hotels. The highest overall spender was Sir Keith Burnett of the University of Sheffield, who spent £24,433, and the highest spender per night was Dame Julia Goodfellow of the University of Kent, who spent an average of £494 a night – more than £300 above the average.
A third of universities said they provided accommodation for their vice-chancellor.
Eight of the universities approached by the UCU did not respond to an FOI request and five used exemptions to refuse to answer all the questions. Only a quarter provided unredacted minutes from their most recent remuneration committee meeting, where the pay of the vice-chancellor is decided.
“Telling staff that there is no money for pay rises while signing off golden goodbyes worth a quarter of a million pounds or handing out pay rises in excess of 10% to 24 university heads is quite outrageous,” Hunt said.
“The huge disparities in the levels of pay and pay rises at the top expose the arbitrary nature of senior pay and perks in our universities. It is simply not acceptable that some university heads enjoy inflation-busting pay hikes and all the trimmings of first-class flights and luxury hotels, and others simply refuse to answer legitimate questions about their spending habits.”
Sorana Vieru, vice-president (higher education) for the National Union of Students, said that with large pay disparities in universities already, there was no justification for the increases in vice-chancellors’ salaries. “We have seen stagnant pay and worsening conditions for academic staff, yet those at the top are happy to pocket pay rise after pay rise,” she said.
“Students are being hit with ever-higher tuition fees and rocketing accommodation costs, but our money is being funnelled into bonuses for senior management. University teaching and learning is suffering enough from the imposition of destructive market forces like the teaching excellence framework without even more being spent on already well-paid VCs.”
A Russell Group spokesman said vice-chancellor pay was decided by official university remuneration committees that included expert representatives from outside the sector. “These experts understand the importance of attracting and retaining experienced individuals who are capable of managing complex international institutions. The UK punches well above its weight on higher education and Russell Group institutions are among the world’s best research-intensive universities. First-rate leadership has been crucial to this success.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are clear that in order to achieve efficiencies universities should demonstrate restraint in senior pay. We remain concerned about the substantial upwards drift of salaries of some senior leaders.”
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