The earnings gap between UK vice-chancellors and their employees is growing, according to data on more than 100 institutions which reveal a bumper pay-off for former University of Birmingham vice-chancellor Sir David Eastwood.
Times Higher Education analysis of the financial statements of 118 higher education providers published to date puts the median vice-chancellor’s pay package at £308,000 in 2021-22 – a 2 per cent increase from £301,000 the year before.
This included a median base salary – used to stop figures being skewed by particularly small or large wages – of £257,500, which typically comes alongside other benefits such as housing and pensions.
The average pay package for vice-chancellors was seven-and-half times larger than the median pay for all other employees, up from 7.2 the year before and as high as 15 at Imperial College London.
