Putting the vice in vice-chancellor
University students are facing massive fee hikes, and staff at unis across the country are facing job losses. But the view from the top is very different. In fact, life for university vice-chancellors has never been better.
A new report commissioned by the National Tertiary Education Union shows that VCs at five Australian universities had remuneration packages of more than $1 million last year.
The largest was ANU vice-chancellor Ian Young’s $1.1 million cheque. The $1 million club also includes Glyn Davis from the University of Melbourne, who is carrying out the biggest single lay-off of university staff in Australian history as part of his “Business Improvement Process” (BIP). According to Davis, such cuts are necessary because of reduced government funding to universities.
It doesn’t seem to occur to Davis that he should chomp on fewer cigars, eat less foie gras and take a pay cut to help out. This also hasn’t occurred to Michael Spence from the University of Sydney. Spence “earned” his million dollar pay packet last year by attempting to push through attacks on union rights at the university, which failed due to a sustained and combative union campaign.
These figures reveal just how corporatised universities have become. Universities today are multibillion dollar businesses, churning out commodities in the form of ever more expensive degrees, and overseen by VCs who have the interests and outlook of CEOs rather than educators.
