Vice-chancellor pay should have to be justified
VICE-CHANCELLOR pay should be linked to the size of a university, the head of the new regulatory body has said.
Appearing before the education select committee, Nicola Dandridge, the chief executive of the Office for Students (OFS), hinted that the watchdog would crack down on heads who receive large pay packets while presiding over small universities. She told MPS that the pay of university heads
‘I think it is really critical that they try to sort this out themselves’
should also be linked to their institution’s performance.
Asked by Robert Halfon, the committee chairman, if salaries of senior executives should be linked to performance Ms Dandridge said: “Yes, and also linked to the size of the organisation you are running.” She added: “I mean some are huge, billionpound, international operations and some of them have far less responsibility.”
Her comments follow widespread criticism of vicechancellor salaries, including Prof Christina Slade, who received £808,000 in her final year as vice-chancellor of Bath Spa University, which included a sum of £429,000 in “compensation for loss of office” on top of her £250,000 salary, £89,000 of pension contributions, £20,000 of housing allowance and “other benefits-in-kind” worth £20,000.
With just over 7,000 students last academic year, it is one of the smallest universities in the country.
Dame Glynis Breakwell, the country’s highest-paid vice-chancellor, will be stepping down next year amid pressure from her own staff over her salary.
She is paid £468,000 a year to head up the neighbouring Bath University, with just over 13,000 fulltime students last year.
Jo Johnson, the universities minister, said that any member of a university’s senior leadership team with salaries over £150,000 would have to justify their salary to the OFS or face a fine.
Ms Dandridge told MPS: “Having said all that, universities are autonomous and we have to respect that. I think it is really critical that they try to sort this out themselves.”