Top principals claim more in expenses than price of degree

THE heads of Scotland’s leading universities have between them claimed more than £30,000 in expenses over the past year, more than it will cost a student from the rest of the UK to undertake a degree north of the Border.

The principals at St Andrews, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dundee universities were reimbursed a total of £31,713 over the past 12 months, figures obtained by The Scotsman show.

The cumulative claims exceed the average tuition fees cost of £30,628 for a four-year degree at a Scottish university which students from England, Northern Ireland, and Wales will have to pay under plans to cut the funding gap between Scottish institutions and their English counterparts.

A breakdown of the five-figure claim by the four principals shows that their expenses include stays at five-star hotels, cappuccinos in New York eateries, and flights around the world. Under the new higher education fee arrangements, the average headline cost of a degree in Scotland will be £27,083, but taking account of where students from the rest of the UK study – more than 40 per cent are based at Edinburgh and St Andrews – the average student from elsewhere will pay £30,628, a figure student leaders have described as “startling”.

Student leaders described the expense claims of the principals as “disgraceful” and said money should be spent helping undergraduates from disadvantaged backgrounds, not on luxury hotels. The largest claim was by the principal of St Andrews, Professor Louise Richardson, who recouped £18,725 between 30 September, 2010, and 30 September, 2011.

The lion’s share of Prof Richardson’s claims were for travel, amounting to some £15,621 for flights, trains, parking expenses and taxi journeys. The plane tickets include trips to far-flung locales such as Abu Dhabi and Canada. Prof Richardson, whose salary at Scotland’s oldest university is £225,000, was also reimbursed for hotel costs at the luxurious Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, which is located only an hour’s drive away from St Andrews.

The principal with the next largest claim was Professor Anton Muscatelli, the head of the University of Glasgow, who was reimbursed £8,608 over the same period.

Robin Parker, president of NUS Scotland, said: “It’s disgraceful to see university principals making expense claims for five-star hotels and high-end restaurants, while simultaneously pleading poverty to the Scottish Government and introducing high tuition fees for students from the rest of the UK.

“At a time when all areas of Scottish society are facing an economic squeeze, it’s unacceptable for university principals to be making expense claims of this kind.”

• Correction: The above report stated that the highest claim was made by the principal of St Andrews University. Since St Andrews was the only university to disclose flight costs incurred by a principal, the figures were not directly comparable.