£227,000 a year isn’t enough if I don’t get house, says vice chancellor
A VICE chancellor at one of Britain’s lowest-ranked universities believes his £227,000 pay package is not sufficient because it does not come with a graceand-favour home.
Craig Mahoney, of the University of West Scotland (UWS), which is ranked 100th out of 129 British universities, said: “Do I think we’re paid too much? No, not really. My job is pretty all-consuming. I can’t do my job properly because I’m not provided with a house. My job involves a lot of entertaining.”
His claims were derided yesterday by Lord Adonis, the former education secretary, who joked that, compared to some of his counterparts, Mr Mahoney was “seriously poor”.
Sir Anthony Seldon, vice chancellor of the University of Buckingham, said: “Vice chancellors do an extremely demanding and complex job. That said, I’ve cut my own pay to the lowest of any in the sector, and it’s embarrassing in this climate to be paid so much more when salaries are so static for our staff. Self-restraint is a good thing. I think others would be wise to practice it.”
Since Mr Mahoney’s appointment in 2013, UWS has languished at the bottom of the university league tables. According to the Complete University
Guide, it ranks poorly for its student to staff ratio and spending on facilities, while one in five of its students drops out before completing their degree.
It also declined to take part in the Government’s new Teaching Excellence Framework, which assesses and rewards institutions according to the quality of their undergraduate teaching.
Mr Mahoney says he hopes to arrange a new dwelling for his successor when he eventually leaves the position.
A UWS spokesman said: “While a number of universities in the UK higher education sector do provide accommodation for their principals, UWS has no plans to pursue this.
“The principal’s comments were made in the broader context of universities having facilities that can be utilised to host national and international guests, facilitate partnerships, secure investment and potentially be used as homes for their future principals – not himself.”