Eric King-
A university vice-chancellor received more than £800,000 in her final year in post, it has been revealed.
Accounts for Bath Spa University reveal Professor Christina Slade to have been paid £429,000 “for loss of office” on top of her £250,000 salary and other benefits. The overpaid wage is a shocker for a Vice Chancellor to pick up in one year- it is equivalent to picking up a lottery ticket.
OVERHAUL
The University and College Union (UCU) has called for an “urgent overhaul” of senior pay at British universities. Incredibly excessive wages to executive bosses is an insult to the intelligence of staff down the pecking order who earn a lot less.
A spokeswoman for the university said the sum “was considered to represent value for money”.
Prof Slade, who served as vice-chancellor until August, was also given a housing allowance of £20,000 and another £20,000 for “other benefits-in-kind”. Additional pension contributions of £89,000 took the professor’s wage to another level. Her overall pay package including pensions and benefits amounted to £808,000.
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A spokeswoman for the university said in a press release :
“Having taken legal advice, the university paid Prof Slade a sum which reflected her contractual and statutory entitlements, and was considered to represent value for money.”
The committee was “mindful of the need to respond to concerns about excessive salaries and take into account the performance of the university,” she added.
COMMITTEE
She said that the vice-chancellor’s salary was decided by a pay committee, which did not include the vice-ctake into account the performance of the university,” she added.
Prof Dame Glynis Breakwell announced she was resigning from the University of Bath after a row over her £468,000 salary.
UCU general secretary Sally Hunt was critical of the shocking revelation. She said that when it came to senior pay in universities “many vice-chancellors and senior staff look like they are living on a different planet”.
She called for greater transparency into how senior pay awards were decided, with staff and students included on remuneration committees.
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“We are seeing what happens when decisions are taken in secret without proper checks and balances,” she added.
“This simply cannot be allowed to continue; we need an urgent overhaul of how senior pay and perks are determined, and how our universities are governed.”