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Average university vice chancellor now earns more than £250k

For the first time, the average salary for university vice chancellors has risen above £250,000.


These are the 10 highest vice-chancellor basic salaries for 2017/18:

1.

University of Bath, £470,000

2.

University of Cambridge, £431,000

3.

University of Southampton, £423,000

4.

London Business School, £422,000

5.

University of Birmingham, £386,000

6.

Imperial College, £373,000

7.

University College London, £368,000

8.

University of Surrey, £364,000

9.

Open University, £360,000

10.

University of Oxford, £360,000​



Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the Office for Students, said: "We understand that running a university is a significant and complex task, and it is right that those who excel in their roles should be well rewarded.

"Despite this, where pay is out of kilter, or salary increases at the top outstrip pay awards to other staff, vice chancellors should be prepared to answer tough questions from their staff, student bodies and the public.

"Universities - and individual vice chancellors - need to be confident that they can justify the pay that they receive."

Read the full article in the Telegraph here.

What do you think?

Scroll to see replies

So much for universities struggling with Brexit :rofl:
Reply 2
Avatar for Drewski
Drewski
19
Original post by Decahedron
So much for universities struggling with Brexit :rofl:

What, the thing that hasn't happened yet hasn't affected them? Colour me shocked...
Original post by Drewski
What, the thing that hasn't happened yet hasn't affected them? Colour me shocked...

It would affect their forecasting, or do universities not plan ahead like other businesses?
In the same dataset - 27 UK universities made more than 100 staff redundant in 2017/18 - a lot of the top paid VCs are also overseeing the largest layoffs of staff.

University of Bath, £470,000 - 72 redundancies (72 in 16/17)
University of Cambridge, £431,000 - 67 redundancies (120 in 16/17)
University of Southampton, £423,000 - 119 redundancies (30 in 16.17)
London Business School, £422,000 - 13 redundancies (22 in 16/17)
University of Birmingham, £386,000 - 67 redundancies (120 in 16/17)
Imperial College, £373,000 - 291 redundancies (337 in 16/17)
University College London, £368,000 - 61 redundancies (65 in 16/17)
University of Surrey, £364,000 - 47 redundancies (33 in 16/17)
Open University, £360,000 - 412 redundancies (0 in 16/17)
University of Oxford, £360,000 - 327 redundancies (369 in 16/17)

stats: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/regulation/value-for-money/senior-staff-pay/
I think they deserve it. Many secondary school head teachers get paid £100k a year, and managing a university with 10,000 paying students and a big reputation to protect is much harder. I think about £350k sounds fair. There’s plenty of managerial jobs that pay even more.
Original post by NickAlex12
I think they deserve it. Many secondary school head teachers get paid £100k a year, and managing a university with 10,000 paying students and a big reputation to protect is much harder. I think about £350k sounds fair. There’s plenty of managerial jobs that pay even more.

At LSE 164 staff (6.2% of staff) are paid over £100k. At London Business School 15% of staff are on over £100k (including the head who is paid just under £600k - with just over 2,000 students, smaller than many secondary schools). Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and Imperial all employ over 300 staff on more than £100k.
Original post by PQ
At LSE 164 staff (6.2% of staff) are paid over £100k. At London Business School 15% of staff are on over £100k (including the head who is paid just under £600k - with just over 2,000 students, smaller than many secondary schools). Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and Imperial all employ over 300 staff on more than £100k.

They probably deserve it. These are top unis and they hire top talent to run and maintain their programmes. London Business School is kind of an anomaly since even though they have fewer students, their students pay a huge amount to do their courses there and the university is the best business school in Europe so hires the best of the best when it comes to lecturers.
Original post by NickAlex12
They probably deserve it. These are top unis and they hire top talent to run and maintain their programmes. London Business School is kind of an anomaly since even though they have fewer students, their students pay a huge amount to do their courses there and the university is the best business school in Europe so hires the best of the best when it comes to lecturers.

The median salary from LBS is £46,500.
Original post by PQ
The median salary from LBS is £46,500.

And your point is? Obviously the cleaners at LBS aren’t going to be paid more because they work for LBS. The heads of department, the vice-chancellor, the top talent is going to be paid more. It’s not like they just decide to pay these people more, they have to in order to prevent them leaving for other universities or other jobs.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by NickAlex12
And your point is? Obviously the cleaners at LBS aren’t going to be paid more because they work for LBS. The heads of department, the vice-chancellor, the top talent is going to be paid more. It’s not like they just decide to pay these people more, they have to in order to prevent them leaving for other universities or other jobs.

That median salary is tiny compared to other London universities - and yet LBS has 15% of their staff on over £100k. They're not just paying their cleaners poorly (unless you think they're employing 200+ cleaners) to get a median that low with such a large population earning over £100k.
Original post by PQ
That median salary is tiny compared to other London universities - and yet LBS has 15% of their staff on over £100k. They're not just paying their cleaners poorly (unless you think they're employing 200+ cleaners) to get a median that low with such a large population earning over £100k.

Well it suggests to me that most people working at LBS are not that experienced and/or talented but the top talent there is more talented. Again, LBS doesn’t just pay them more because they’re being nice, they have to in order to keep them. It could have much to do with their stuff perhaps being more likely to have a business/finance background (which are typically high paying) rather than a purely academic one. I doubt the 15% are all vice-chancellors and other non-teaching staff- many lecturers are paid top wages too.
They can lay their staff as much as they wish.
cos theyre greedy ***** taking 2x+ pm salary from the public purse and all while kids are getting in sickening amounts of debt for a declining value of a degree
They can afford this but I still can't have free print credit... right.
Original post by NickAlex12
They probably deserve it. These are top unis and they hire top talent to run and maintain their programmes. London Business School is kind of an anomaly since even though they have fewer students, their students pay a huge amount to do their courses there and the university is the best business school in Europe so hires the best of the best when it comes to lecturers.


The rises are due to 'benchmarking behaviour' not high performance of the vice chancellors.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/06/vice-chancellor-salary-study-demolishes-claims-pay-rises-based/

Vice Chancellors attend the meetings which set their own salaries at 95% of universities
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/15/vice-chancellors-can-go-meetings-set-pay-almost-universities/

Though I think several universities have belatedly realised that there might be a problem with this after having it pointed out last year and have stopped doing it.
The closest comparable positions in terms of size, staff, importance and complexity, are chief executives of NHS trusts and large local authorities, both of whom are paid substantially less than Vice-Chancellors.

Moreover, those positions generally do not attract the trappings of office enjoyed by a lot of Vice-Chancellors; official residences, domestic staff, chauffeur driven cars.
Original post by candokoala
For the first time, the average salary for university vice chancellors has risen above £250,000.


These are the 10 highest vice-chancellor basic salaries for 2017/18:

1.

University of Bath, £470,000

2.

University of Cambridge, £431,000

3.

University of Southampton, £423,000

4.

London Business School, £422,000

5.

University of Birmingham, £386,000

6.

Imperial College, £373,000

7.

University College London, £368,000

8.

University of Surrey, £364,000

9.

Open University, £360,000

10.

University of Oxford, £360,000​



Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the Office for Students, said: "We understand that running a university is a significant and complex task, and it is right that those who excel in their roles should be well rewarded.

"Despite this, where pay is out of kilter, or salary increases at the top outstrip pay awards to other staff, vice chancellors should be prepared to answer tough questions from their staff, student bodies and the public.

"Universities - and individual vice chancellors - need to be confident that they can justify the pay that they receive."

Read the full article in the Telegraph here.

What do you think?


so essentially RG + Surrey & OU. At least beds isnt on the list
I know which job I’m applying for in the future :rofl:
Original post by RichPiana
I know which job I’m applying for in the future :rofl:

It’s a tough one to qualify for. Mediocre research credentials, an enormous ego and some talent in herding cats and charming board members.

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