Top universities fight plan to reveal salaries

ELITE universities have attacked ‘disproportionate’ plans to force them to publish salaries of staff earning more than £150,000.

The new Office for Students has pledged to tackle the ‘excessive pay of vice chancellors’ and proposes that universities publish data on the highest salaries – and justify them.

But Russell Group universities said the plans ‘risk undermining the ability of institutions to compete in an international market for academic and professional services talent’. The group cited worries over competitors being made aware of salaries, the Times Higher Education magazine reported.

The University of Birmingham, which paid 48 staff more than £150,000 last year, said it had concerns about the regulatory burden of publishing salaries.