Nigel Thrift set to receive astronomical £92,000 farewell pay package

University of Warwick’s former Vice-Chancellor, Nigel Thrift, has received a voluntary gift of £92,000 from a Renumeration Committee comprised of three people.

According to the report, £42,000 of this sum was for his achievements “benchmarking against the sector average” and £50,000 for Thrift’s successful developing of relationships with Monash and California.

But the sabbatical officers moved quickly to condemn the enormous farewell package, calling on Nige to reject the £42,000 windfall not already donated to the Bursary Fund.

The also demand an “apology to students and staff from the Remuneration Committee for its gross misjudgement.”

They believe the sum has been “plucked from the air by three individuals” and want “an increase in student bursaries by £92,000” instead.

Nigel Thrift decided to donate the £50,000 towards student bursaries – although many students sees this as amounting to “little more than a PR gesture.”

The petition continues: “This is not money coming directly out of his own pocket and the goodness of his heart, as was suggested by the original announcement – it is a gift which was arbitrarily handed to him and is obviously considered superfluous to requirements.”

Sabbatical officers have created a petition in response to this, highlighting their anger and discontent at Thrift receiving such a huge sum.

The people behind the petition claim this particular £92,000 could have been spent more beneficially, such as buying “three well-qualified, full-time student mental health workers for a year; innumerable bursaries for junior doctors or students from low-income backgrounds; five full-time clerical officers at the University.”

The SU has campaigned for a long time to be involved in the pay of the Vice-Chancellor as well as to have a more influential say in this aspect of how the university is run.

The Sabbs also demand a “renewed commitment to improving the wages of postgraduate teachers at the University, who have been told repeatedly that there is not enough money available to fund this” as well as a “replacement of the £92,000 parting gift with the award offered to any other member of University staff with 10 years’ service: a letter of thanks and a pen.”

To sign the petition or read more on the opinion of the Sabbatical officers click here.