University axes vice-chancellors’ exclusive club perk

De Montfort cuts benefit package after former leader resigns amid watchdog investigation

VICE-CHANCELLORS at De Montfort University will no longer get membership of an exclusive club as part of their remuneration package, senior staff have said. After examining the perks of the job, the Leicester university decided to cancel the benefit enjoyed by its former vice-chancellor, meaning his successors will go without it.

Prof Dominic Shellard, who earned £350,000 a year for running De Montfort, quit without explanation in February. He enjoyed membership of The Club at The Ivy in Covent Garden as part of his package. The process through which this benefit was awarded is not clear.

Prof Andy Collop, interim vice-chancellor, said he had removed a number of privileges enjoyed by his predecessor following “listening sessions” arranged to hear employees’ views about the way the university was being run.

Extra living accommodation that had been given to Prof Shellard was also withdrawn by the university.

It comes amid controversy over the remuneration of top university staff, with large pay rises being awarded to vice-chancellors at universities – some of which have poor academic results.

Perks enjoyed by other vice-chancellors have included stretch limousines and Fortnum & Mason hampers. One university paid £1,600 for its new vice-chancellor’s pet dog, a Maltese called Oscar, to be relocated from Australia, a Channel 4 investigation found.

Prof Shellard’s salary rose from £286,000 in 2016-17 to £350,000 in 2017-18, when De Montfort was ranked 82nd in the country by the Complete University Guide.

Having led the university since 2010, Prof Shellard quit after the Office for Students (OFS), the sector’s watchdog, said it was “looking into a number of regulatory matters”. The university had reported “an issue” last autumn, the OFS said.

The regulator added there was “no presumption of wrongdoing by the university” and De Montfort said it was “happy to co-operate fully” with the investigation.

The resignation is the third sudden departure of a vice-chancellor from a UK university in the past few months.

Swansea University’s Prof Richard Davies, was suspended in November pending an investigation over an alleged conflict of interest. He denies any wrongdoing. Prof Nigel Weatherill, vice-chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, resigned in September with immediate effect, with little explanation given.

Prof Shellard’s resignation came after speculation about his future and confirmation that the university’s chairman of governors, Sir Ian Blatchford, had secretly also resigned.

Prof Shellard could not be reached for comment.