Uni principal gets new £5000 pay rise
Package more than seven times Uni average
Stirling University’s highearning vice-chancellor has received another pay rise.
Professor Gerry McCormac was given an increase of £5000 for the 2017-18 academic year, upping his annual salary from £274,000 by 1.9 per cent to £281,000.
Latest accounts for the university also show the number of staff there earning above £100,000 a year has risen from 16 in 2016-17 to 19 during the following 12 months.
Prof McCormac, a 60-year-old physicist from Belfast, has been vice-chancellor and principal of the university since 2010.
His pay has gone up by 18 per cent over the last five years and jumped five per cent – from £249,000 to £262,000 – between 2013-14 and 2014-15.
New financial figures from the university also reveal that Prof McCormac’s salary more than seven times the average pay of Stirling University staff.
Following industrial action this year UK university staff received a 1.7 per cent pay increase for the next academic year.
The rise was lower than the 7.5 per cent asked for by trade unions, who also called for a pay hike which would see British universities become living wage employers.
A spokesperson for Universities and Colleges Union Scotland acknowledged Prof McCormac’s pay rise was in line with the percentage increase awarded to all university staff.
But they added: “There’s a vast difference in what the increase means if you’re on a precarious contract with only a few hours work a week or if you’re the principal earning almost twice the salary of the First Minister.”
The UCU is also battling against the increasing use of casual contracts in higher education and its gender pay gap and workload.
A Stirling University spokesperson said: “The principal’s salary is set by the university’s remuneration committee at a level that is appropriate to the size and scale of the job.
“The principal accepted the nationally-agreed pay increase awarded to all staff.
“He donates to a Vice-Chancellor’s Fund to support a range of University of Stirling student and staff projects to directly enhance the student experience.”
Academic staff criticised the vicechancellor’s salary rises and pension arrangements in February, when they went on strike over proposed changes to their pension plans which could have seen them lose up to £10,000.
Students also described his pay package as unfair during protests in 2016 over rent levels.
Prof McCormac earns more than twice the salary of Stirling Council’s chief executive.
His remuneration also eclipses that of Prime Minister Theresa May (£150,402 a year).
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is entitled to a £155,680 salary but, due to a voluntary pay freeze by Scottish cabinet ministers, only takes £135,605. ● To comment on this story email john.rowbotham@trinitymirror.com or write to the Observer at 34 Upper Craigs, Stirling, FK8 2DW.