Fat cat VCs lapping up the cream

Vice Chancellors at some of Britain’s top unis cashed in on a £20,000 pay rise – as lecturers were forced to accept just a one per cent increase. 

Bosses at Russell Group universities pocketed a hefty 8.1 per cent pay increase on average. Their benefits packages also rose by 5.2 per cent.

Now they rake in an average £254,692 salary.

Lecturers went on strike twice last term across the country over pay and now the unions have threatened further action.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “It is the startling hypocrisy that grates more than the actual rises.

“Many vice-chancellors have talked down to their staff and told them to accept a one per cent rise – representing another real terms pay cut – as it is the best they can expect, while happily pocketing big sums themselves.

“Few people have ever bought the lie that we are all in this together but these revelations are as insulting as they are unfair.

“With further disruption set for the New Year if this dispute is unresolved, these controversial rises will galvanise union members who are determined to fight for high pay.”

The biggest pay packet is bagged by Craig Calhoun, LSE’s vice chancellor, who receives a monstrous £466,000 a year. This is up from the £285,000 his predecessor Sir Howard Davies received.

Birmingham’s VC , David Eastwood, pockets £400,000 a year while Cambridge’s boss received a £20,000 pay-rise, bringing his package to £334,000.

Dr Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group, had the audacity to defend the pay increase. She said: ““The salaries of vice-chancellors and other senior staff at our universities reflect their roles leading extremely complex, international organisations with annual turnovers of more than half a billion pounds on average.”

She added: “The success of our universities benefits Britain and is vital for growth: collectively they contribute more than £30 billion to the economy every year.

“Our vice-chancellors still earn significantly less than their counterparts in the United States or Australia despite running equally or, in some cases, more successful universities.

“We will continue to work closely with staff and unions to ensure that we provide competitive but sustainable pay and conditions for our highly valued staff.”

Lecturers staged nationwide strikes in October and December, angry at the 1 per cent pay offer, which represented a 13 per cent fall in real terms since 2008. The first strike affected 149 universities across the country.

Students occupied buildings at Birmingham, Sheffield and Sussex in support of the strikes, in some places labelling themselves anarchists.

In Sheffield, the university took action to give them the ability to remove protestors from university buildings.