A crackdown looms for double-dipping university leaders

Australian university leaders earning significant second incomes on top of their AU$1 million (US$623 million)-plus salaries are set to come under scrutiny from a new watchdog that Education Minister Jason Clare says will seek to lift governance standards and consider potential conflict of interest issues, writes Julie Hare for the Australian Financial Review.

At least four vice-chancellors earn or have earned fees or salaries from positions that are external to their universities, including as directors of publicly listed companies, a superannuation fund and one in an executive role.

The federal government is finalising an expert council to examine university governance after several consecutive years of oversight failures, including about AU$400 million in underpayments to staff, failure to address sexual assaults on campus and spiralling vice-chancellor salaries. Establishing the council was a key recommendation of Clare’s Universities Accord, which was a major review of the higher education sector handed down in February 2024.
Full report on the Australian Financial Review site