Revealed: The ‘eye watering’ salaries and expenses of London university vice-chancellors

The salaries and expenses of vice-chancellors at London unis have been revealed, and some are getting paid more than half a million pounds annually.

With many unis facing financial crisis and closure due to decreases in international students and a lack of funding, Vice-chancellor pay in London remains as high as £533,000, according to an investigation by The i. 

Here are some of the highest paid London uni vice-chancellors, and their expenses.

London School of Economics

With a pay package of £533,000 the vice-chancellor of LSE, Larry Kramer, has the second highest pay reported to The i. He also had the highest expenses claim with £83,000 which is twice the annual salary of the average Brit.

University College London

With a pay package of £509,849, president and provost of UCL, Michael Spence, has the third largest.

Imperial College London

The salary of Professor Hugh Brady, president of Imperial College London was reported to be £476,000 according to the Imperial annual report and accounts.

However, this is a significant decrease from the previous president, Alice Gast whose decision to live in a college residence took her overall pay to £714,000 in 2022.

London Business School

via Google Maps

London Business School delivered a huge basic pay of £451,000 last year to it’s outgoing Dean François Ortalo-Magné giving him one of the highest basic pays of any uni head in the UK, according to The Telegraph.

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King’s College London

via Google Maps

Shitij Kapur, vice-chancellor of King’s College London was reported to have made a £414,000 salary last year.

An expense report released earlier this year also detailed a renovation of Kapur’s Maughan Library flat which came to £64,539.

Queen Mary, University of London

The basic salary of Colin Bailey, the vice-chancellor of Queen Mary, was £328,922 according to a 2023 remuneration report but this was brought to £358,746 after the uni covered his pension contributions as well as utilities, council tax and maintenance in provided accommodation.

In a statement to The i, Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union said: “There is a crisis in higher education…We urgently need increased public investment and a guarantee that jobs and courses will be protected.

“Instead, we have university bosses that are paid eye watering sums lobbying for a tuition fees increase, whilst they claim kitchen utensils and high-end London restaurants on expenses.”

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Featured image via YouTube