Minister: university chiefs should not sit on pay bodies

VICE-CHANCELLORS should be barred from discussions about their pay, the universities minister has said.

Sam Gyimah said he wanted to see vice-chancellors kicked off remuneration committees to prevent them having a hand in their own pay levels. He added that FTSE 100 companies would never allow a director to sit on a remuneration committee and then claim they had left the room when their own salary was discussed.

Speaking to the Commons education committee yesterday, Mr Gyimah said: “They should not be allowed to set their own pay and that’s action on pay, the second thing is that the Office for Students has a real focus on top pay within our universities.”

University bosses attend the committees which set their pay in 95per cent of cases, with nearly half of vicechancellors members of remuneration bodies, according to the University and College Union. Another 47 per cent are able to attend meetings.

Mr Gyimah made the comments amid growing concerns over spiralling salary increases for university chiefs.