Vice-Chancellor takes pay rise despite overall cost cutting

Salaries for vice-chancellors at top UK universities rose by an average of £9,700 from 2009/2010 to 2010/2011 with average earnings rising to £333,000, according to a new study by the Guardian. The same period saw university funding cut by £215m.

Our own Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nigel Thrift, received a pay increase of £3,000 last year after a pay freeze the previous year, ensuring his salary reached a staggering £238,000. When combined with his pension contribution of £36,000, this brought his total pay package to £274,000. At the same time, the total bill for Warwick staff fell £1.8m despite an overall financial surplus of £20.3m, more than double the previous year.

When compared to the salaries of some of the country’s highest paid vice-chancellors, Thrift’s pay package is certainly not the largest. The highest paid Vice-Chancellor in the UK is Oxford University’s Andrew Hamilton who received a staggering £424,000, whilst Birmingham University’s Professor David Eastwood was not far behind, receiving £419,000. These pay rises come at a time of economic austerity and increasingly tight finances with cuts being faced throughout the country. We are constantly being reminded of the need to tighten our belts and make changes to our lifestyles, yet these latest figures seem to show that within the university hierarchy, those at the top are not sharing the same hardships.

Whilst Vice-Chancellors undoubtedly play a large role in ensuring the continued success of universities, the question remains as to whether such large salaries can continue to be justified. With Thrift receiving £150,000 less than his Oxford counterpart, does this mean he is doing an inferior job? It seems unlikely, so why the vast difference?

Vice-Chancellor pay is typically decided by remuneration panels and tends to be composed of neither employees nor students. The University of Warwick’s remuneration committee is an excellent example of this, being composed of only four people: Professor Nigel Thrift himself, the Pro-Chancellor, Sir George Cox, the Treasurer, Brian Woods-Scawen and Dame Fiona Caldicott, a lay member of the council. The terms of reference of the remuneration panel is to ‘determine and review the remuneration packages of the Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar and other senior members of the University staff whom it is deemed appropriate to refer to the Committee.’

Just as shareholders invest in a business, we as students invest in our university and as such, we should have a say in deciding where our money goes. This becomes more prevalent when we consider the upcoming exorbitant tuition fee increases in September, necessary to ensure the survival of universities in the face of radical government cuts. The increasingly essential role that will be played by the students’ investment in the University means that it will become even more imperative that students begin to ask themselves exactly where this money will be going.

We cannot allow the managerial culture so prevalent in business to worm its way into these institutions. Students need more of a say in the way in which their money is spent, otherwise those at the top will continue to extricate themselves from students’ needs.