HAVING resigned from the Court of the University of Bath in August after learning that its Vice Chancellor earns more than any of her counterparts across the UK and three times as much as the Prime Minister, an eye-watering £451,000 plus exceptionally generous benefits and expenses.
Let’s remember that Bath Uni is a good place to study and research, but it is very much a middle ranking institution. Incensed, I decided to hold a debate in the Commons to discuss the wider issue of vice chancellors’ salaries. During the debate I drew particular attention to the issue of performance-related pay within the public and quasi-public sectors and the way in which it had been used to avoid the stringencies that have been applied to lower paid workers.
Contrast this with the situation of local firefighters who came to see me on Wednesday. Over ten years their pay has reduced in real terms. I hope the autumn budget will bring some good news for them.
All tax-funded organisations, whether they be local authorities, health administrations, or academic institutions, should be responsible, transparent, and accountability when awarding senior management salaries. Sadly, however, too many organisations, most notably universities, decide salary figures within remuneration boards on which the recipient of the salaries themselves sit, and minutes of these meetings are often concealed or heavily redacted. I expect leadership and transparency from our universities but have been gravely disappointed.
Like many parents locally this month I’ve been dropping off children at university. It’s a process that focuses the mind on student debt and shoddy, overpriced student accommodation. All of this helps to fund extravagance at the top of our universities that simply didn’t happen before. The issue is the evolution of a system that has allowed such behaviour to go on unchecked.
Thankfully, the Government has announced the formation of a new Office for Students to provide oversight of higher education institutions with students at its heart. I will be looking to it to rein in the sense of entitlement and excess that has infected the upper echelons of our universities.
Andrew Murrison MP
