Sykes earns £305K
Sir Richard Sykes, Rector of Imperial College, receives the highest Vice-Chancellor pay-packet of a government funded university in the country. The Rector earns £305,000 a year, a whopping £40,000 more than the VC of Surrey University, who is the next on the list. Sykes earns £115,000 more than the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University. The only VC paid more than Sykes is Laura Tyson of London Business School who earns £5,000 more; however, the University is not government funded. Lord Oxborough, Sykes' predecessor, earned considerably less in 2000, taking home half Sir Richard's current salary.
While considerably less than his salary as Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, the Rector's earnings have come under scrutiny from staff and students concerned with the corporate nature of the College. Just days after the AUT strike over pay, some lecturers are furious at such high salaries and the example this is setting to underpaid research staff. Sally Hunt, general secretary of the AUT, said: "We will be writing to the Secretary of State for Education to ask that this matter is investigated so everyone can see just what Vice-Chancellors have done to warrant the huge salaries the taxpayer is giving them."
A College spokesperson said: "It is vital that this complex organisation is steered by a leader with the knowledge, experience and vision to meet the challenges of the expanding higher education market. The demands of this job are high and the salary must reflect that."
Felix spoke to some students to gauge opinions of Sykes' mega salary. Thomas Lau, a first year Civil Engineering student, said: "I'm surprised that he's topping other Vice-Chancellors of large Universities. He's not even in the same league." A second year Maths student agreed with Lau: "It stinks of the corporate environment Sir Richard envisions for Imperial, a private sector business pay scale to match only seems fitting." Rashmi Wimalaratna, a fourth year medical student, added, "There's a large discrepancy between the salaries of those in the upper echelons of Imperial and the money spent on day to day services."
Overall, in 2005, the pay of university VCs has increased by 25 percent compared to 2002.
Chris Miles
Felix's View:
Sir Richard is by far the highest paid head of a government funded university in the country. He receives only slightly less than Laura Tyson of the London Business School. Does Sykes really warrant this much government money?
It's shocking that Sykes gets £115,000 more than Cambridge's VC. Surely, the leader of the most successful University in the country should be getting the largest pay packet.
Sykes has made Imperial more business orientated; that is indisputable. In doing so, he has probably improved College's financial situation. But do we, the students, really want Imperial to become more business orientated? University is first and foremost a place for students, Sykes must not be allowed to forget that.
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