Principal defends six figure salary in financially trying times

In a financially trying period for universities, the pay of certain leaders has come under scrutiny. Professor Andy Schofield, principal at the University of Glasgow reportedly received a pay increase upon becoming principal, earning him £319,000 per annum. This is in an environment that faces “tough choices” according to Schofield, this often alludes to redundancies on the horizon.

In Scotland, it has been made evident that the education sector relies too heavily on funding from international students tuition fees that are significantly higher than domestic fees. Further, the sector has seen strikes and boycotts that has resulted in cutting costs, but this comes at the cost of the amount of staff and courses.

The University of Glasgow itself has largely avoided tough financial cuts thus far. Professor Schofield commented that there are already saving measures being put in place, and he is not ruling out the aforementioned “tough choices” in the university’s future. It appears that vacancies are already being left unfilled, and staff are being asked to reduce costs as much as possible.

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It must be considered: is the pay discrepancy fair in these circumstances? When asked this directly Professor Schofield commented:

“I suppose what I would say is, like any job I applied for, they said this is the pay, and then you say yes or no. I’ve never negotiated a salary in my life. If someone says, “This is what we think you’re worth,” I’ll say yes or no.

“It’s unusual for someone to be doing a job they applied for, and then for the employer to say tomorrow we’re going to pay you less than what we paid you today.

“But you can always do that at points of change. And that’s not to say that at points of crisis, institutions might put pay freezes in place. During the pandemic, for periods of time, leaders took cuts — that’s what I did — for a short time.”

He then concluded: “There’s no good answer, other than I applied for a job, got a job offer, and said yes. If the world changes around me, then you make your own judgments.”

While this is a frank response, it cannot be ignored that such a large salary comes on the tail of financial savings throughout the university, with the principle admitting that “tough choices” are potentially on the horizon.

Professor Schofield then turned to the question of investments in universities and what they can deliver. His believes that the University of Glasgow is one of Scotland’s largest drivers of economic growth, one that doesn’t upsell that point enough.

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“If there were a magic wand one could wave for the nation, you’d see that economic growth would unlock an awful lot. Statistically, universities are one of the best generators of economic growth.”

Schofield wants the university to be at the forefront of social justice, science, health and medicine, focused on working with local businesses, colleges and other universities as well as pushing international collaboration. He believes that it is this vision that explains investment in leadership.

While this may be the case, for individual staff members, especially those losing contracts it must feel frustrating to see a six figure salary, raising some ethical questions about leadership salaries.

On the financial pressures, Schofield comments: “It’s the job that I have of balancing the books and making sure that a university that’s 575 years old this year has another 575 great and glorious years ahead of us.