Professor who got a £350k loan ... interest free!

A UNIVERSITY boss who complained of funding shortfalls has taken a £350,000 interest-free loan from his institution.

Professor David Phoenix took the money to buy a home near London South Bank University – despite already earning £295,000 a year.

Details of the loan will raise eyebrows after the vice-chancellor complained about government funding cuts earlier this week. Yesterday, former education minister Lord Adonis said: ‘This sort of behaviour by universities is disgraceful.

‘His students ... have to repay their loans with 6.1 per cent interest.’

South Bank’s annual accounts reveal the loan was given as part of a ‘relocation package’ so he could buy a home. The loan was handed over in October 2013 and is repayable on October 30, 2018 ‘or later as agreed’. The deal was struck before he left his role at the University of Central Lancashire in 2014.

It is understood he put the money down on a property near South Bank’s central campus – where houses change hands for millions.

South Bank would not give details of why the loan was given and if it was used to buy a property outright or put down as a mortgage deposit. As of July 31, 2015 the outstanding balance was £350,000.

The accounts show Professor Phoenix’s basic salary in 2015/16 was £243,000, with pension and benefits of £52,000. He has claimed his base salary is £227,000.

South Bank declined to comment.