Agree
- The Vice-Chancellor’s compensation package, the highest in the country with a value of £468,000, has brought the University into disrepute locally and nationally, drawing attention away from the positive work of the University
- The Vice-Chancellor’s most recent pay rise of 3.9% comes after a pay rise of 11% in 2015-16. The Vice-Chancellor now earns approximately 30 times more than the lowest paid worker at the University
- The Vice-Chancellor has use of a grace-and-favour home, bought by the University in 2002 for £1.6 million and since maintained at a current annual cost of £18,000, despite a uniquely high income, whilst students must contend with unaffordable accommodation both on and off campus
- The University has received months of bad publicity which is damaging its reputation and is perceived by some students to be devaluing our degrees
- HEFCE report is damaging, and was critical of how the Vice-Chancellor voted during the most recent meeting of Court where she voted with an undeclared conflict of interest
The Vice-Chancellor has caused irreparable harm to the University. Every day there are new stories appearing in the national press suggesting the culture the VC sets is “one of greed”.
The Vice-Chancellor’s compensation package is the highest in the country with a value of £468,000. This is after a pay increase of 11% in 2015-16. In 2016-17, her pay increased again by 3.9% which amounts to an extra £17,589 on the previous year. Most staff only received a 1.1% increase in 2016-17 which is below inflation, resulting in a real term pay cut. This means our Vice-Chancellor earns more money in just 12 days than the lowest paid staff member does in a year.
In addition to being the highest paid Vice-Chancellor, she also has use of a grace-and-favour home, bought by the University in 2002 for £1.6 million and since maintained at a current annual cost of £18,000, despite a uniquely high income, whilst students must contend with unaffordable accommodation both on and off campus. The Vice-Chancellor has also taken an interest-free loan of £31,489 from the University with which to buy a car. No other member of staff has been eligible to receive such a loan. In contrast, students at the University of Bath pay an interest rate of 6% on their tuition fee and maintenance loans.
The Vice-Chancellor has been challenged multiple times, at open staff forums as well as by students, to explain and justify her high salary and the huge differential between it and that of other staff, but she has made no reasonable response. Indeed, perception is that she has been dismissive of the questions and she did not hear or respect the level of dissatisfaction within the organisation of which she is Vice-Chancellor.
It is too late for the Vice-Chancellor to come out and apologise now. There is reputational damage within the University that is beyond repair thus undermining her authority to lead. This also has an impact on the perception of the quality of degrees students receive. The University has been criticised by multiple public figures such as Ken Loach and Wera Hobhouse. Four MPs have resigned from the University of Bath Court in protest at the high pay and perks of the Vice-Chancellor and poor governance. The University's first Deputy-Vice-Chancellor George Lunt has said that “Personal gain and personal ambition should not get in the way of managing and leading the institution.”
The recent HEFCE report is damning, stating senior staff, which includes the VC, did not act in good faith with regards to the meeting of Court. She did not declare a conflict of interest and voted against making calls for transparency and accountability on the part of Remuneration Committee, the committee that establishes her pay.
Stories of this situation have reached all corners of the country and even abroad – damage is international. She has presided over a ‘culture of fear’ as reported by staff and students, and the accomplishments she is claiming are also down to many other staff as well as students, not just senior management.