Whilst you can’t afford to heat your home, the Vice Chancellor of Imperial is earning £700k

In a year that saw a cost of living crisis officially declared in the UK and university lecturers go on strike for a total of 18 days over their inadequate pay, it has been revealed that the Vice Chancellor of Imperial College London is on a six figure salary.

In the academic year 2021-22, the average pay package of a Vice Chancellor of a Russell Group University increased by six per cent to £413,000, when all payments for grace-and-favour housing, pensions and other benefits on top of their basic salary are considered.

Topping the list of highest paid VCs is Alice Gast, the ex-Vice Chancellor of Imperial, who received a pay package of £714,000 until July 2022 when she stepped down from the role. This was a 35.5 per cent increase on the year before.

Close behind Gast are two other female VCs; Louise Richardson of Oxford had an 18.8 per cent increase to £542,00 whilst the director of LSE, Baroness Shafik, received £539,000, up 10 per cent year on year.

In the same time period, strike action from UCUs nationwide stepped up after lecturers were offered only a three per cent pay increase. An investigation carried out by The Tab found that Russel Group university’s saved a minimum of £10,918,754.37 in withheld pay over the period of industrial action. LSE, among four other unis, said they were funnelling the money saved into a support fund for students.

Featured image via YouTube.

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