Oxford University’s Professor Andrew Hamilton was the top-earning vice-chancellor but his pay rise was less than 0.5%. Grant Faint/Getty Images
The heads of elite universities were awarded an average pay rise of £9,700 last year, taking their average earnings beyond £333,000, the Guardian can reveal.
Analysis of 13 top university leaders’ pay packets has prompted calls for the prime minister’s clampdown on executive pay to reach beyond banks and big business to include universities as well, although the average rise of 3.9% is below the rate of inflation.
An examination of the universities’ most recent financial statements, from 2010-11, shows the vice-chancellors of Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Nottingham, Bristol and Southampton were all given a pay rise, despite a squeeze on many university budgets.
Hamilton was closely followed by Birmingham University’s Professor David Eastwood whose earnings reached £419,000, comprised of a £323,000 salary, £29,000 bonus, £16,000 for other expenses and £51,000 for pension contributions.
Sally Hunt, general secretary of the lecturers’ trade union – the University and College Union – argued that the findings meant the government’s crackdown on excessive executive pay should extend to universities.
All three of the main political parties are vying to lead calls for a crackdown on executive pay. In the pas
