For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By Dave W
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1574414
"...hold my antique lead crystal flute of vintage Krug, and watch THIS".

Many complaints about the near £0.5M p.a. salary of the Bath University vice-chancellor, who narrowly survived a vote of no confidence last week.

So what does she do? She "quits".

But hang on, she hasn't quit at all. She's taking a sabbatical, on full pay, until retiring in 2019.

Oh, and getting a £31,000 car loan written off by the University into the bargain.

Amazing.

In other news, just over a quarter of University income (on average) comes directly from public funds.
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By Genghis the Engineer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1574416
On a University turnover of £263 million according to Wikipedia.

So one person is getting a salary of about 0.2% of turnover.

I'm not defending the sabbatical bit, but how does that compare to private sector CEOs?

It certainly compares very well to the £150k Theresa May gets for, arguably, a rather tougher and more responsible public sector job (albeit that when TM goes she'll presumably make millions in speaking fees).

G
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1574419
Specious comparisons between public sector (including politicians and universities) and private industry is what got us here in the first place.....

A university is not a business, though it needs to be businesslike in managing its affairs effectively. The only reasonable comparator for a V-C's salary is that of other senior academics, as the role is first amongst equals in a university context. That's why hackles have been raised and she's been pursued, the gap between her package and that of others is beyond what the academic community believes is reasonable.

The university will be honouring a negotiated contract severance and will have limited room for manoeuvre but severance is the right course of action at this point IMHO.
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#1574429
johnm wrote:
A university is not a business


Yes it is! As soon as they were allowed to charge directly they ceased to compete on academic grounds. The vast majority now compete on student (customer) satisfaction, facilities and preparing customers for careers. A VC that can manage the business properly and sustain it in a market that has recently lost 8% of its customer base is a valued asset. Hence the CEO level remuneration.
#1574435
johnm wrote:...severance is the right course of action at this point IMHO.

I agree, however…

johnm wrote:The university will be honouring a negotiated contract severance and will have limited room for manoeuvre but...

...it should be those responsible for putting the university in the position of having to honour it that find themselves looking for a job.

That they stay in their jobs is a bigger travesty than the woman clever enough to negotiate herself the deal.
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1574438
A university shouldn’t be a business but it’s fair to say that many of the converted polytechnics fit the model so helpfully offered by Jim Jones.

In the Bath case the remuneration and recruitment committees are already under significant levels of scrutiny.
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By Genghis the Engineer
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#1574454
In my world view, which in this context I think is probably very similar to Johnm's, no - a university is not a for-profit entity, which should be doing the best to deliver its organisation mission within the constraints of the resources made available to it.

The University of Bath's website tell me that their mission statement is...

Our mission is to deliver world-class research and teaching, educating our students to become future leaders and innovators, and benefiting the
wider population through our research, enterprise and influence.


Not a word there about money. Yet it's common knowledge that most Russell Group profs are expected to bring in £200k.pa in funding, and it escalates up the ladder. Teaching is probably No. 3 in the priority list of what academics are assessed on for promotion after 1 - funding, and 2 - research publications.

The unfortunate fact is that universities are being run on a very hard nosed money-oriented basis, and often a spurious one. In my opinion every person in a university should be assessed on the basis of their contribution to the mission. first, and anything else second or third.

That said, I am not specifically criticising Bath here. I'm criticising the vast majority of UK Universities right now.

G
#1574494
What you have stated there G wasn't a lot if at all different in the 90s. Without the first two the university doesn't have any credibility as 1 provides 2 which provides the perception of a top university. Teaching was a joke then and probably still is now, however many traditional universities are finally starting to get the act together and offer 2 year full time degrees and 4/5 year with work degrees.
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1574497
are finally starting to get the act together and offer 2 year full time degrees and 4/5 year with work degrees.


I’m not really convinced by 2 year full time degrees, 4 to 5 year with work is a return to something like the sandwich courses of the 50s and 60s where employers recruited school leavers and sent them on to university alongside work, a very successful approach.
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By Genghis the Engineer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1574498
KingJames wrote:What you have stated there G wasn't a lot if at all different in the 90s. Without the first two the university doesn't have any credibility as 1 provides 2 which provides the perception of a top university. Teaching was a joke then and probably still is now, however many traditional universities are finally starting to get the act together and offer 2 year full time degrees and 4/5 year with work degrees.


Teaching standards have actually improved a lot, thanks to mandatory PGCerts, National Student Satisfaction Surveys (NSS) feeding into league tables, and now we have a new TEF (Teaching Excellence Framework) being rolled out.

Otherwise yes - but the carrot is that you get promoted on research, and stick that you get punished for being bad at teaching.

G
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