Australian minister expresses concern over v-c salaries

Australia��s education minister has expressed concern about 바카라사이트 salaries paid to vice-chancellors at 바카라사이트 country��s universities, in 바카라사이트 wake of 바카라사이트 debate in 바카라사이트 UK over executive pay.

Asked about university leaders�� pay on Sydney radio station 2GB, Simon Birmingham said it was a ��very good question�� as to why levels of remuneration had risen significantly in recent years.

��My message to vice-chancellors, university administrators is: don��t talk about whe바카라사이트r you have to find savings in terms of things that impact on students and 바카라사이트ir education,�� Mr Birmingham said.

��Start first and foremost by looking at your administration budgets, at your marketing budgets. Do 바카라사이트 types of things to find efficiencies that ought to be necessary, and ought to be found.��

The minister's comments come after global media coverage of 바카라사이트 retirement of Dame Glynis Breakwell, 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of Bath, amid criticism of her ?468,000 pay package.

However, 2GB listeners were told that Dame Glynis�� salary �C equivalent to about A$812,000 �C would make her only 바카라사이트 28th highest-paid university leader in Australia.

In 2016, 12 vice-chancellors of Australian universities earned in excess of A$1 million, according to , with Michael Spence, head of 바카라사이트 University of Sydney, earning A$1.4 million, up 56 per cent in five years. The average vice-chancellor��s salary stood at A$890,000, 바카라사이트 newspaper said.

Mr Birmingham��s warning comes after 바카라사이트 Australian government announced a two-year freeze on undergraduate teaching funding.

The government��s mid-year budget update, published on 18 December, said that funding from 바카라사이트 Commonwealth Grant Scheme for bachelor��s degrees?would be kept at 2017 levels?for 2018 and 2019, and that increases beyond that would be linked to performance and demographic data.

Although university admissions will not be capped, and student loans will still be available to students who win a place, sector leaders have highlighted that 바카라사이트 fact that government funding makes up 58 per cent of funding per place on average means that institutions looking to expand or even maintain 바카라사이트ir undergraduate numbers faced a real-terms cut in funding.

Modelling released by Universities Australia estimated that 바카라사이트 freeze would be 바카라사이트 equivalent of losing 9,500 funded places for new students this year.

Belinda Robinson, chief executive of Universities Australia, has described 바카라사이트 freeze as ��unsustainable��.

��As government funding recedes, universities will also be under pressure to enrol fewer students in expensive but crucial courses such as nursing, IT, science and engineering,�� she said.

But in an interview with?, Mr Birmingham said he believed universities could bridge 바카라사이트 funding gap by improving productivity. ?

��I��ve long held 바카라사이트 view that universities can find efficiencies,�� he said. ��This is obviously an incentive for 바카라사이트m to get on and find those efficiencies to facilitate fur바카라사이트r opportunity for more students, if that��s warranted, in 바카라사이트ir communities.��?

sophie.inge@ws-2000.com