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Leader: Leadership comes at a premium
19 March 2009
Vice-chancellors' salaries have risen, but so have the demands of the job they do and the economic challenges they face
For once, academics can start to feel justly rewarded. The new pay framework has seen average salaries increase by 5.7 per cent from 2006-07, to £43,486 a year, compared with a national average for other UK workers of 4 per cent. Academics are now better remunerated than some of their professional counterparts, and rightly so; a result for which unions and management should take much-deserved credit.
For the vast majority, their job is secure and there is a final-salary pension to greet them when retirement beckons. But with silver linings come clouds. We are in the worst recession in living memory for most, and the world could well be stumbling into a new financial paradigm. "Stability and sustainability of institutions remain of paramount importance during this time of economic uncertainty," warns Jocelyn Prudence, chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association and a woman aptly named for our straitened times.
Such a tempestuous situation puts the question of how much the head of an institution is worth into an interesting context. Vice-chancellors are now on an average salary of £193,970. Of course, this masks all sorts of astonishing individual rewards, not least the 89.9 per cent rise for Sir Colin Campbell, the former vice-chancellor of the University of Nottingham, whose final salary of £585,000 was enhanced with pension and other extra payments for early retirement.
Not surprisingly, the University and College Union sees the average increase of 9 per cent that vice-chancellors have received over the previous year as ill deserved and "distasteful" in the current climate. But let us consider the role of the leaders of today's institutions.
The vice-chancellor's job has changed immeasurably in recent years. Whereas he - and it is still, sad to say, a male-dominated sector at the top - used to preside over teaching and research alone, he now also has to contend with technology transfer and spin-offs, fundraising, working with industry and even managing campuses abroad. Many UK institutions are world leaders that command an army of internationally excellent staff, and it is on the shoulders of their leaders that the expectation of alleviating many of the nation's economic woes also rests. To recruit and retain people who can capably administer such huge enterprises, salaries must be competitive not only nationally, but globally.
Vice-chancellors come in for heavy criticism from Vernon Bogdanor in this issue, but these are the people who must steer universities through the downturn and lead us out the other side. Tough decisions will have to be made, as is already happening after the research assessment exercise. Some have acted speedily, such as Sir Howard Newby, who is to close three departments and is considering the future of five others at the University of Liverpool.
We depend on these people to understand the challenges ahead and tackle them head on. As far as J.K. Galbraith was concerned, "all of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership."
It is that willingness that is demanded of vice-chancellors in these anxious times: the shape of the future higher education landscape is in their hands. A sector of such vital importance to the UK's future deserves the very best leadership.
Readers' comments
How much have you missed the point? To write about leadership as if it only comes from the top - no! Not even in the worst MBA course bumpf or the poorest management literature would such a thing be suggesed. Sorry, but if we are to write about leadership let's make sure we write about what it really is. And tough decisions, again, sorry, no! We academics may most often be in public sector posts but the process of decision making relates to clear and well articulated vision and strategy not just to planning (as many assume is the primary remit of the public sector). Let's recognise the role of the Vice Chancellor for what it can be: representational, creative, and evolutionary!
Sorry, it sounds like a justification for empire bulding to me. As for making tough decisions - reminds me of Peter Cook telling Dudley Moore that "what we need is some senseless act of human sacrifice". The old argument that competitive salaries are needed to attract the right calibre is always applied to those at the top, and never to those at the bottom (anyone remember when banking leaders said this?). as for academic pay - allowing for inflation, I earn what I did in 1975, before I had a PhD and a lifetime's experience. I suspect that average is skewed by the number of 'managing academics' - people who hold the title 'professor' to reflect their management role rather than academic prowess.
This column is morally repellent; and as a piece of work on HRM it would fail as a first year undergrad piece. As for the citation of Galbraith, he pointed to the hypocrisy of the notion that in order to get poor people to work harder we pay them less; in order to get rich people to work harder we pay them more. But hey, its not as if you are preaching to people who expect you to do research and cite people honestly. If there are vice-chancellors of whom it is true they would not do the job for 15% less then they should be fired, now.
This is one of the most horrendous articles I have read in the THES for ages. Why wasn't it titled "The myth of executive pay revisited". Has the recent furore over executive pay in the financial system not taught us any lessons? Executive pay is a con, especially for public institutions. We have recently had examples of excessive local government pay now we have the example of vice chancellors. There is no shortage of wannabe vcs, there are few if any examples of vcs moving sideways to industry for better pay, there is no justification for these salaries. Of course vcs should be paid for responsibility but these amounts are not justified. They have the knock on effect of dragging the salaries of the new managerial class in Universities up with them. The problem with most Universities is that we now have a self perpetuating highly paid managerial class almost totally divorced from the realities of the the primary functions of a university teaching and research. I am very dissapointed that the thes produced such an uncritical article.
So the VC earns 4 times more than I do. Big deal. There's far more in the private sector earned a hell of a lot more than that for a very long time and, contrary to the usual myths, not for working any harder than a lot of people, typical VC's included, in HE sector. Yeah yeah Frustrated (above) is right there's no shortage of wannabes who would be willing to take on the work for less pay. But I wouldn't see applying that in practice as a smart strategy if the aim's to boost quality. Even if all the negative stereotypes are valid, and whilst they probably are in a minority of cases I doubt they are in most, I'd suggest you're still better off corporately with a smart, greedy leader than a dimmer, prestige obsessed one.
When a Vice Chancellor recieves a 10% pay rise like the Vice Chancellor at Salford University who is also planning on making 150 staff redunent and closing courses at this time of depression is annoying, £240K isthe amount of money paid to the VC at Salford University which is more than Gordon Brown earns this amount of money is very annoying when Salford University buildings are in need of repair. Staff and students have been working with myself in getting signed petitions in support of our cause, The response from the public as been brilliant in sending letters to both us : Salford University Defend Education (S.U.D.E.) these letters have been sent onto the Centre For Excellence & Leadership who are conducting a report into how much money was allocated to the management at Salford University to do work on the university buildings. £3,600 paid for a glass door £17,000.00 on a wet room £34k on carpets and extra's to furnish the Vice Chancellors Office. Students education is now suffering, Gary Leese. Press Officer - Secretary Salford University Defend Education (S.U.D.E.)
Gary, that should be "working with me", not "working with myself". But the VC getting a £17,000 wet room??? Ye gods! All the exceutive perks, eh? Has the VC been watching series one of 'Moving Wallpaper' for inspiration?
Gary - certainly think you need an MP on the case - and, of course, good hard evidence. Good luck! cheers
Please - what is a 'wet room'?
A wet room is a water-tight bathroom wherein one showers straight onto the floor, which has a drain in it.