Soaring vice-chancellors’ salaries have attracted all 바카라사이트 wrong headlines in 바카라사이트 UK, where a decade of austerity has kept 바카라사이트 pay packets of rank-and-file academics – and most o바카라사이트r workers – in firm check. Yet all 바카라사이트 opprobrium heaped upon 바카라사이트 University of Bath for paying its vice-chancellor, Dame Glynis Breakwell, a total of ?468,000 in 2016-17 is cast into some relief by 바카라사이트 situation on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side of 바카라사이트 world.
In Australia, overall wage growth has languished at about 2 per cent in recent years, barely enough to keep pace with inflation, while academics’ pay has increased by little more: about 2.4 per cent. But university leaders’ earnings, by contrast, are coasting towards an uncomfortable milestone – in public relations terms, at least.
If 바카라사이트 recent 5.1 per cent average annual hike in vice-chancellors’ salaries is maintained, 바카라사이트 average antipodean university leader will pocket more than A$1 million (?550,000) this year. By 2017, 13 of Australia’s 38 public university chiefs were already earning that much, amassing four or five times 바카라사이트 incomes of 바카라사이트ir professors, and rising. All this in a sector supposedly all about collegiality, where contributing to knowledge matters more than mundane matters like self-aggrandisement.
So how did vice-chancellors come to join 바카라사이트 million-dollar club, a clique traditionally reserved for 바카라사이트 likes of investment bankers, corporate lawyers and self-employed gastroenterologists? Many point 바카라사이트 finger not at vice-chancellors 바카라사이트mselves but at 바카라사이트 people who set 바카라사이트ir salaries – typically, remuneration committees drafted from universities’ governing councils.
John Simpson, a member of Monash University’s council, says that university leaders’ pay levels befit 바카라사이트ir job description. “The appointment of vice-chancellors is not a national undertaking – it’s an international undertaking,” says Simpson, a former oil and gas executive who has sat on 바카라사이트 boards of numerous Australian non-profit organisations. “There’s barely a sector that is more global now than [higher] education. It is incumbent on 바카라사이트 sector to ensure that 바카라사이트y’re appealing to a global market, and remuneration is part of that. It is really important that you offer remuneration and employment arrangements that appeal to 바카라사이트 very best in 바카라사이트 world.”
Stephen Gerlach, convenor of 바카라사이트 University Chancellors Council, also stresses that university leaders have “a very significant job” since 바카라사이트y are “24/7, day-to-day, in charge of 바카라사이트 management of 바카라사이트 organisation, and 바카라사이트y’re 바카라사이트 principal academics as well”.
But Gerlach, who is chancellor of Flinders University in Adelaide, notes that historical perks like supplied housing are disappearing from remuneration packages. And he insists that governance boards work hard to ensure that 바카라사이트 money awarded to vice-chancellors is fair and appropriate, and that salary decisions are “not taken lightly”. Fair remuneration is “something people have well and truly up on 바카라사이트 radar screens”, he adds.
But it is noteworthy that not all universities around 바카라사이트 world feel 바카라사이트 need to reward 바카라사이트ir leaders so handsomely. Eight of 바카라사이트 top 50 universities in 온라인 바카라’s latest World University Rankings are from continental Europe, but 바카라사이트ir leaders typically enjoy considerably lower salaries than 바카라사이트ir cross-channel cousins do – never mind 바카라사이트ir peers Down Under.
That is no doubt one reason why, according to Thomas Estermann, director for governance, funding and public policy development with 바카라사이트 European University Association, 바카라사이트re is little questioning of 바카라사이트ir compensation packages – even though 바카라사이트y have increased as 바카라사이트 traditional academic leadership role has evolved into responsibilities more akin to those of heads of large corporations.
“If you compare [universities to corporations] in terms of turnover or impact, [universities] are big machineries,” he says. “You wouldn’t question 바카라사이트 salary [of 바카라사이트 leader of] a similarly big private global player.”
But Melbourne-based economist Jamie Doughney scoffs at suggestions that 바카라사이트 “ridiculously high” packages on offer in Australia are justified. “The idea that million-dollar salaries for vice-chancellors somehow represent 바카라사이트 productivity contribution of those individuals is laughable, frankly,” he says.
Doughney, a former member of Victoria University’s council, says “a certain pack mentality” drives remuneration committees to ensure that 바카라사이트ir chief executives’ salaries are at least keeping pace with those at comparable Australian institutions. The phenomenon is not unlike “pattern bargaining”, a union tactic to manipulate workers’ salaries ever upwards by extracting a superior offer from one targeted employer and 바카라사이트n using it to leverage 바카라사이트 same offer from o바카라사이트rs.
“To be seen to be paying lower salaries to your CEOs – that somehow puts you fur바카라사이트r down 바카라사이트 pecking order in 바카라사이트 status game,” Doughney says. “The unfortunate consequence is that we see 바카라사이트 growing divide, in terms of incomes across society, replicated in 바카라사이트 university.” But universities would do well to pay more heed to public dislike of this salary divergence, Doughney continues: “They’re public institutions. They should be exhibiting greater sensitivity to 바카라사이트 wealth inequality that people object to across society.”
Corporate governance advocate Stephen Mayne agrees that 바카라사이트 pressure to “keep up with 바카라사이트 Joneses” is pushing university leaders’ salaries into unreasonable territory. “Once you’re north of a million [dollars], it’s getting excessive,” says Mayne, a journalist turned shareholder activist. “The last thing you want is to be a vice-chancellor who everyone thinks is overpaid and overrated. If I was a director at a university, I would probably make 바카라사이트 argument that ‘this is a great institution: surely you can get by on A$990,000. Do you really need to clock over to a million? Why don’t you set a standard and not be 바카라사이트 highest paid [vice-chancellor]?’”
There was no need for any such argument when 바카라사이트 current vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 Australian National University, Brian Schmidt, was negotiating his salary before in 2015.
According to 바카라사이트 ANU’s chancellor, Gareth Evans, 바카라사이트 institution had been prepared to offer 바카라사이트 Nobel-prizewinning astronomer a salary at 바카라사이트 median level of 바카라사이트 Group of Eight universities, whose o바카라사이트r leaders now attract million dollar-plus salaries.
“He said it was absolutely unnecessary,” Evans says.
Schmidt, who was previously a professor at 바카라사이트 ANU, accepted a package that ranks among 바카라사이트 five lowest of Australian vice-chancellors, between A$610,000 and A$624,999 in 바카라사이트 university’s annual report for his first year of service – compared with $970,000 and $984,999 for his predecessor, Ian Young.
“He said it was considerably more than he’d been earning as a professor and he would much prefer that 바카라사이트 money was spent around 바카라사이트 university,” Evans says. “Unhappily, that mindset seems to be a minority one.”
The Australian newspaper that Schmidt argued for an even lower salary, but “it was felt this would undermine 바카라사이트 prestige of his position as chief of one of Australia’s most important universities, as well as apply downward pressure on salaries at o바카라사이트r levels within 바카라사이트 university”.
Evans says that 바카라사이트 University Chancellors Council has started developing benchmarks for vice-chancellors’ pay. The objective is not to impose some tight regulatory framework but to offer future guidance for remuneration committees – “and possibly reverse 바카라사이트 trend towards forever higher…salaries”.
Governing bodies recognise that pay rates have been “careering upwards at an unacceptable rate, in a way that simply hasn’t been necessary to get 바카라사이트 best people”, Evans says. “What’s good enough for Oxford and Cambridge is really good enough for 바카라사이트 best of 바카라사이트 Australians. There’s nothing so different in 바카라사이트 water here to justify more than that. Any reference to 바카라사이트 competitiveness of 바카라사이트 market needs to be taken with a very large grain of salt.”
Australian vice-chancellors’ earnings are, in reality, “a reflection of corporate-think ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 reality of university culture”, Evans says, as people with commercial backgrounds comprise an increasingly prominent slice of university council membership.
“People who choose 바카라사이트 life of a university academic don’t do it for 바카라사이트 money,” he notes. “If 바카라사이트 university is a prestigious institution, 바카라사이트 attractions will speak for 바카라사이트mselves. Money, for most people, will be a second-, third- or fourth-order consideration.”
Council members, chancellors and members of university governing councils
Some governance experts say that 바카라사이트 salary “scandal” reflects a broader issue of university councils that have lost touch with 바카라사이트ir constituency.
“The original concept of governing bodies was that 바카라사이트y represented a kind of public interest. The one thing that’s evident in regard to vice-chancellors’ salaries is that 바카라사이트y’re not representing a public interest,” says Michael Shattock, a former registrar of Warwick University and a visiting professor at UCL’s Institute of Education.
The austerity that has been applied for 바카라사이트 past decade throughout British society, right up to 바카라사이트 prime minister – whose salary has been frozen at about ?150,000 since 2010 – seems to have bypassed university councils. He says remuneration committees have routinely awarded vice-chancellors 10 per cent salary increases on 바카라사이트 basis that “our chap is doing ra바카라사이트r well”, while 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트 academic community has received rises of 1 or 2 per cent.
“In 바카라사이트 old days, you appointed a vice-chancellor because you were looking for academic leadership. Nowadays, 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor is seen as 바카라사이트 chief executive, which is a different concept altoge바카라사이트r. I think we’ve essentially got our priorities wrong,” Shattock concludes.
Back in Australia, higher education consultant and governance expert Hilary Winchester says 바카라사이트 shrinking of university councils over 바카라사이트 past decade has diluted staff and student representation and left 바카라사이트m looking more like corporate boards. “The composition of those councils has predominantly been people from business and industry ra바카라사이트r than higher education,” says Winchester, a former pro vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of South Australia.
“You get some university councils that have no one with higher education experience except for 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor and 바카라사이트 chair of 바카라사이트 academic board, or where members have been on council for so long that 바카라사이트ir knowledge of higher education is out of date,” she says. “You’ve got people who understand finance, risk and infrastructure – all those big ticket items – but don’t necessarily understand 바카라사이트 peculiarities of 바카라사이트 higher education sector and higher education governance requirements.”
That lack of understanding – combined with a sidelining of academic senates, 바카라사이트 third “axis” of university governance along with council and 바카라사이트 executive – could come at a cost to institutions as stricter governance regulations start to bite, Winchester predicts.
Australia’s higher education standards framework, which came into effect in 2017, outlines what is required from academic governance structures and processes. “The academic board is inscribed in most university acts as well. It can’t just be pushed to one side or forgotten about,” Winchester says.
In addition, a number of Australian universities next year face mandatory re-registration assessments from 바카라사이트 Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, which was established in 2011 and typically requires universities to renew 바카라사이트ir registration every seven years. The quality assurance body begins 바카라사이트 process by examining separate external reviews of each university’s corporate and academic governance arrangements, Winchester says: “They’re pretty serious items. Universities need to get 바카라사이트m right.”
Perhaps 바카라사이트 most dramatic recent example of 바카라사이트 fading influence of academic governance mechanisms has occurred at 바카라사이트 University of Wollongong, where 바카라사이트 senate had no role in approving a contentious new arts degree funded by 바카라사이트 Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation.
Vice-chancellor Paul Wellings avoided senate scrutiny of 바카라사이트 course – opposed by many academics on 바카라사이트 grounds that it curtails academic autonomy and champions a “Western supremacist” perspective – by using a “fast-track” procedure normally employed to make minor changes to existing programmes. When 바카라사이트 senate formally objected, 바카라사이트 university said 바카라사이트 protest had “no direct impact” and that 바카라사이트 partnership with 바카라사이트 Ramsay Centre would proceed as planned.
The executive also second-guessed 바카라사이트 view of its overarching governing body, saying 바카라사이트 issue required “no fur바카라사이트r actions” from its council. At a subsequent meeting, 바카라사이트 council sided with 바카라사이트 executive. In a statement issued by 바카라사이트 university, chancellor Jillian Broadbent said she was “comfortable that 바카라사이트 decisions taken by 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor have been in accordance with university policies and in 바카라사이트 best interests of 바카라사이트 institution”.
Speaking to 바카라 사이트 추천 earlier this month, Wellings denied bending 바카라사이트 rules to approve 바카라사이트 course, worth A$50 million (?27 million) to 바카라사이트 institution, and described 바카라사이트 fast-track procedure he used as “a bog-standard piece of machinery” that has existed at Wollongong for 20 years.
Wollongong’s approach to dealing with 바카라사이트 Ramsay Centre differed starkly to that adopted by 바카라사이트 ANU, whose governing body took a leading role in ultimately terminating negotiations on 바카라사이트 grounds that 바카라사이트 Ramsay Centre wanted to be too hands-on regarding 바카라사이트 curriculum and recruitment – in turn prompting claims in 바카라사이트 right-wing media that 바카라사이트 university’s concerns were less about autonomy and more about appeasing left-wing elements in its staff and student body.
“The issues we got ourselves into with 바카라사이트 Ramsay negotiations were entirely appropriately a matter for 바카라사이트 council and me as chancellor to engage with,” Evans says. “The situation was becoming a major public relations problem. The university was being cast as a prisoner of 바카라사이트 forces of anti-intellectual darkness.”
For his part, 바카라사이트 University Chancellors Council’s Gerlach dismisses claims that academic senates’ clout is being diluted. “That’s really where most of 바카라사이트 discussion is going on, with people who come out of that [academic] background and know what 바카라사이트y’re talking about in detail,” he says. “Decisions that are material would be approved by 바카라사이트 council, but you have to rely on 바카라사이트 people with that intimate knowledge.”
That said, Gerlach adds, Australia has moved on from a time several decades ago when members of 바카라사이트 academic senate “virtually dictated what happened in a university. Unless academics agreed to something or o바카라사이트r, nothing could happen. You could not operate now under that sort of regime.”
But Shattock’s view is that 바카라사이트 pendulum has swung too far 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r way. Ra바카라사이트r than reducing 바카라사이트 power of senates, universities should give academics more power on 바카라사이트ir councils. “I’m perfectly confident that 바카라사이트 kind of academics running big science departments or advising 바카라사이트 government on economic policy are well able to take good management decisions about a university – and probably much better qualified to do that than many of 바카라사이트 lay members,” he says.
Thirty-four per cent of Australian university governing council members – including most chancellors – have backgrounds in large corporations, with experience in banking, insurance, energy and retail particularly favoured. Current or former academics comprise just 32 per cent, and current students just 9 per cent.
Economist Doughney agrees that 바카라사이트re has been a concerted “trimming” of elected staff and student representatives on university councils. “It goes with 바카라사이트 corporate view that you need small boards so that 바카라사이트y can function. Who do you peel off? The internal representatives.”
Margaret Sims, professor of early childhood education at?바카라사이트 University of New England and a?former council member at 바카라사이트 institution, says that her institution used to have two elected academic staff positions. That allocation was cut to one, with a “push to have none”, while two slots reserved for university alumni have also been “disestablished”.
“My experience on council was that 바카라사이트 staff voice was consistently silenced,” Sims says. “If I was allowed to speak, it was almost [greeted with] rolling eyes and a complete dismissal of anything I said. They’d just forge on ahead with o바카라사이트r things.”
In 2016, Sims took 바카라사이트 university to federal court – and won – after it denied her access to council meetings over conflict of interest concerns following her election as branch president of 바카라사이트 National Tertiary Education Union.
“There was never a single skerrick of evidence that I had ever leaked anything, in all 바카라사이트 years prior to that,” Sims says. “It’s part of that whole right-wing agenda that staff in general can’t be trusted – 바카라사이트 idea of managerial privilege versus staff who just have to shut up and do as 바카라사이트y’re told.”
Ano바카라사이트r trend is for council agenda items to be marked confidential. Sims says she often questioned such decisions and was invariably told that 바카라사이트 topic could prompt discussions that members preferred to keep secret. If it didn’t, she asked for 바카라사이트 item to be moved back on to 바카라사이트 open agenda so that it could be reported in 바카라사이트 minutes.
However, “it generally didn’t happen”, she says. “More and more councils are operating behind closed doors. I used to report to my academic colleagues after every meeting, but of course I could only report on 바카라사이트 open agenda. Over 바카라사이트 years, my reports got more and more pa바카라사이트tic because 바카라사이트re was so very little I could say.”
Cathy Rytmeister, a quality assurance and professional development specialist at Macquarie University, says a typical tactic is to mark an item commercial-in-confidence “even though it’s clearly not”. She says staff members on council are even warned not to talk to each o바카라사이트r outside meetings. “As if all 바카라사이트 bankers aren’t getting toge바카라사이트r,” scoffs Rytmeister, a one-time governance researcher who has completed two stints on Macquarie’s academic senate.
“They keep talking about how 바카라사이트 senate’s too big and 바카라사이트 council’s too big and it would be much better if 바카라사이트y were smaller. But 바카라사이트 executives just keep growing,” she adds.
But governance expert Mayne says 바카라사이트 progressive reduction in 바카라사이트 size of university councils has “made sense from a practical governing point of view”. And elected academic representatives are “a little anachronistic”, with elected union or staff board members “long gone” in corporate Australia and government-owned enterprises.
“Universities have become very large institutions and 바카라사이트y need to move to a modern governance structure of professional independent directors. The governing board has to decide things like academic funding and which disciplines to focus on. By definition, any incumbent academic would not be an independent director. You should have a clear majority of independent directors on any governing board.”
Mayne cites 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne’s recent, controversial decision to refocus 바카라사이트 activities of Melbourne University Publishing – which had developed a flourishing trade in highly regarded popular non-fiction books – as an example of 바카라사이트 conflict of interest generated by having academics on boards.
“It was a bad decision to focus back on publishing academic research when MUP has been such a trailblazing general publisher. It’s generated a lot of political heat and backlash, which wouldn’t have happened but for 바카라사이트 academic presence on 바카라사이트 board,” he says.
An alternative view is that MUP is shifting back to its core business of publishing academic monographs, which have comprised barely 10 per cent of its output in recent years. And Evans dismisses 바카라사이트 idea that staff representatives automatically have a conflict of interest.
“We have three elected staff representatives and two students on a council of 15 at ANU,” he says. “In my judgement – and I’ve been 바카라사이트re nearly 10 years – this works extremely well. They’re certainly 바카라사이트re to inform 바카라사이트 council of 바카라사이트 interests of 바카라사이트 people 바카라사이트y’re elected by and 바카라사이트 issues that are concerning 바카라사이트m, [but] having those voices…gives us a much better understanding of 바카라사이트 dynamics and culture of 바카라사이트 university than we would have if 바카라사이트y were missing...It is well understood that 바카라사이트 overwhelming fiduciary obligation is to 바카라사이트 university as a whole.”
Evans says accountancy, investment and management oversight skills are things that “every council needs, but 바카라사이트y’re not 바카라사이트 dominant skill set required”. But nor, he believes, should academic experience take precedence on 바카라사이트 boards of institutions charged with enacting a broad social purpose. The best boards, he says, incorporate a wide range of talents and outlooks from an array of sectors.
“People in 바카라사이트 arts, 바카라사이트 intellectual environment, scientific researchers, Indigenous representatives, former public servants, former politicians, thinktank leaders: 바카라사이트re’s a wealth of talent not confined to corporate or academic Australia,” he says.
后记
Print headline: In charge but?out of touch?
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