Limos, luxury hampers and pets... expense claims of fat cat college bosses

UNIVERSITY vice chancellors have quietly been receiving large expenses payouts on top of their vast salaries, it can be revealed.

Taxpayers and students have been picking up the tab for an array of luxuries and treats including cushions, Laura Ashley mugs, chocolate Easter eggs and even seaside rock.

Payments also include large sums spent on stays in five-star hotels, first class flights and even flying a pet half way round the world. In at least one case a university claimed that since hotels and meals were paid for using a university credit card they ‘did not count as expenses’.

The news will fuel rising calls for spending to be reigned in, at a time when students face mounting fees and lecturers are striking over pension cuts.

Universities argue they have to pay generously to attract talented vice chancellors. But critics say they are living the high life at public expense, with little justification. The expenses claims are revealed tonight in the Channel 4 documentary Dispatches: Britain’s University Scandal. Using 198 Freedom of Information responses – which include individual colleges at Oxford and Cambridge – it was calculated that £7.8million was claimed on expenses over two years. Vast salaries and free ‘grace and favour’ housing were not included. Professor Steve West, vice chancellor of the University of the West of England, ran up a £43,293 expenses bill in just 18 months. Ironically, the Government has set up the Office for Students watchdog to ensure students get value for money – and Prof West is on the board. Southampton University had the highest total expenses bill, at £397,497 over two years.

The University of Sheffield said the sums spent by its boss, Sir Keith Burnett, did not count as expenses because they were directly paid for with a university credit card. Other payments included £1,057 on dinner for nine in a restaurant in Boston, US and a lunch which cost £1,936 for food alone, with £406 for alcohol on top. Among other items were a £5 cushion, a £1,300 ‘artwork’, scented candles and fresh flowers. Tory MP Robert Halfon said: ‘Those kinds of examples are pretty shocking, dare I say it being an MP, but the dog example is slightly comparable to duck houses which caused the expense scandal for members of parliament in the first place.’

The University of Surrey said it paid ‘reasonable relocation expenses’. Southampton and Sheffield insisted payouts were necessary and reasonable.