Vice-Chancellor’s office costs soar

Warwick’s Vice Chancellor’s Office spent over £800,000 last year, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.

The total expenditure of the office was £860,640 between 1 August 2010 and 31 July 2011, an increase of almost £73,000 from the previous year.

The costs include salaries of six full-time staff, a proportion of the salaries of the four Pro-Vice-Chancellors, accommodation, travel, equipment purchase, maintenance and catering.

Warwick’s Head of Communications Peter Dunn said the cost is justified and there are no plans for cost-cutting: “The office has invested to open new significant international opportunities for Warwick staff and students and will need to continue to sustain those new opportunities.”

One of the biggest increases was in staff travel and accommodation expenses, increasing by £31,049.

“A key part of the University Strategy is increasing internationalisation to help enhance Warwick as globally connected University,” explained Dunn. “[This includes links between] Warwick and Monash and New York and therefore the run up to those developments obviously required more travel in the last 18 months.”

Salaries totalled £702,603, which grew by £50,000 due to the increase in pro-Vice Chancellors.

“The increase is because we needed them to do more things such as Student Experience [and] the Institute of Advanced Study,” said Dunn, “and as the University has physically grown, things have had to be split, so instead of just having one for Research we now have a Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research (Arts and Social Sciences) and one for Research (Science and Medicine).”

“It seems to me that the real question is whether this is a good use of the money,” said second-year Physics student Paul Horgan. “If it will be spent effectively and contribute to Warwick’s prowess and international standing, then I would say that it is.

“Given that a cost of £70,000 divided among 12,000 undergraduates, not to mention postgraduates, is a very small percentage of our fees: it doesn’t seem an unreasonable price to pay.”

A first-year International Business and French student, who wishes to remain anonymous said: “I think the additional money could prove worthwhile as international links currently bring in a lot of money to Warwick through international fees. In order to justify the increase in costs, the question I would ask is where exactly the University is looking to spend the additional money.”

The costs incured for purchasing equipment also increased by 80 per cent due to the increased staffing levels.

Vice-Chancellor Nigel Thrift took up his role in July 2006. The Vice-Chancellor is “the chief academic and administrative officer of the University,” according to the Office’s website.