Oxford bursar hits out at high pay of his own vice-chancellor
AN OXFORD University bursar has slammed the ‘grossly excessive’ pay packet of his own vice-chancellor.
Attacking the university ‘gravy train’, New College bursar David Palfreyman said it was hard to see a ‘value for money return’ for the escalating pay of Oxford’s leaders or any ‘improvement in governance’.
He also questioned the need for pro-vice chancellors, who act as deputies, and said they were a ‘cadre of costly helpers’.
Oxford’s vice- chancellor Louise Richardson earns £350,000 a year, which rises to around £410,000 including pension.
Meanwhile 450 other senior staff are on more than £100,000.
It comes amid a growing row over vicechancellors’ pay, with universities minister Jo Johnson calling for an end to the ‘endless upwards ratchet’ of salaries. A large portion of university funding comes from student fees, which rise to £9,250 a year next month. Supporters of Professor Richardson have said she is only modestly paid when compared with the UK’s top bankers.
But Mr Palfreyman, who has been his college’s bursar since 1988, yesterday branded the comparison ‘silly’. In a letter to the Financial Times, he said: ‘No sane person could dispute that top bankers are egregiously overpaid, but their daft pay is no reason for VCs to be put on the same gravy train, albeit in a third-class compartment.’
He explained that before the year 2000, Oxford had ‘got by for eight centuries with the cheapest vice-chancellor in the land’.
This involved ‘rotating in’ a head of house for two to four-year peri- ods and paying them ‘ a modest £ 100,000’ in 2017 terms, he explained. ‘We now pay four times as much ... and surround this five to seven-year chief executive with a proliferating cadre of costly helpers as pro vice- chancellors; but few in Oxford would be able to detect any improvement in our
‘Few would detect value for money’
governance and management resulting from these “reforms” – or indeed any value-for-money return for this grossly excessive spend on “the senior management team”,’ he said. He added wryly: ‘Fortunately, the academic rhubarb still grows despite the university’s expanding “administration”!’
Mr Palfreyman is the director of the Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies, which is based at New College, and regularly lectures on university policy.
Professor Richardson’s pay is less than her predecessor, Andrew Hamilton, who took home £462,000 a year including pension before he left in December 2015.
Data from the University and College Union reveals that in the academic year 2015/16, Oxford spent £1,326 on air fares for the two vice- chancellors and £6,134 on hotel accommodation. When Professor Hamilton left the university, he was paid relocation costs of £6,000 and ‘related tax costs’ of £ 3,000, according to Oxford’s accounts.
Terrorism expert Professor Richardson, 59, is Oxford’s first female vice- chancellor and previously held the same role at St Andrews.
The Mail has revealed how Craig Calhoun, the former vice-chancellor of the London School of Economics, was paid £1.7 million over four years despite it scoring only a bronze in official teaching ranks. Earlier this week, the vice-chancellor of the University of Bolton, George Holmes, defended his £222,000 salary saying university bosses are not paid enough compared to those in other countries.
An Oxford spokesman said: ‘Oxford is the world’s highestranked university ... delivering outstanding teaching and adding £5.8billion to the UK economy every year. The University’s international success is delivered by competing with other globally pre-eminent universities to attract top ... talent. The remuneration of the vice-chancellor reflects this.’