Head of student body to ‘bear down’ on excessive university salaries
The head of the new regulatory body for higher education has said that it will bear down on excessive pay levels for university vice-chancellors.
Sir Michael Barber, chairman of the Office for Students, said the body would expose pay levels that look out of kilter with an institution’s performance.
He said: “We have powers as the Office for Students to get into value for money – vicechancellors’ pay, senior staff pay, is one key aspect of value for money. And people are interested in that.
“There are some vice-chan- cellors’ pay packets that look out of kilter with the performance of their institutions, their contribution. We will certainly bear down on in a variety of ways.
“And one of the particular things we will do is look at the ratio between the vicechancellor’s pay and the average pay of the staff in an institution.
“And that will make very visible where certain pay packets stand out like a sore thumb.
“I have said publicly to universities and to vice-chancellors, the best form of regulation is self-regulation. See among yourselves where the pay packets stand out and see whether you should reduce them.”
Bath University’s Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell is the UK’S highest paid vice-chancellor, taking home £451,000 in 2015-16, including benefits.