University heads’ pay rises faster than academic staff’s

UK universities have been accused of “blatant double standards” on the day it was revealed that vice-chancellors’ pay has risen around four times faster than pay for most academic staff, writes Aftab Ali for the Independent.

The comments were made by the general secretary of the University and College Union, Sally Hunt, after Times Higher Education’s 2016 pay survey showed Anne Carlisle, head of Falmouth University – one of Britain’s smallest – received a pay rise of almost £60,000 (US$88,200) last year, despite the institution only having around 4,200 students. Her pay rise now puts her on par with the heads of other larger and more prestigious universities like Manchester and, in some cases, is more.

Hunt called the disparity “a disgrace”, and said: “Despite clear calls from government for pay restraint at the top, vice-chancellors have enjoyed bumper pay rises of over 4% on average, while increases for rank-and-file staff are held down at barely a quarter of that.”
Full report on the Independent site