University principals to lose their bonuses

THE salaries of Scotland’s university principals are set to be curbed under a radical overhaul of the way higher and further education institutions are run.

Outlining the recommendations of two reports on university and college governance, education secretary Michael Russell said further education colleges would be reordered under 12 regional boards, making them “more efficient” and “responsive to the needs of local students and local economies”.

Meanwhile, a review of university governance, carried out by Ferdinand von Prondzynski, the principal of Robert Gordon University, made a series of recommendations, including abolishing bonuses for well-paid principals and putting an end to pay rises over and above the average awards given to all staff.

The report said it was important for universities to be transparent over the pay of its top-earners, “in the light of the wider public debate about executive pay and bonuses”.

It recommended putting staff and students on remuneration committees, as well as publishing how pay is calculated.

It also called on the Scottish Government to investigate whether an agreement that determines pay scales for university staff up to the grade of professor could be extended to include all staff, including principals.

Plans for college reorganisation follow publication of a report by Professor Russel Griggs which calls for the 42 institutions to be grouped under regional boards, with the possibility for further mergers in the future.

Commenting on the issue of university pay, Mr Russell said: “What the report says it that we need to have public confidence in the remuneration of principals and that we don’t have a bonus culture.

“It is not the Scottish Government, it is the institutions setting pay,” he added.

“What is required now is to have a discussion, but I put my faith in the universities.”

Asked if principals’ pay had got out of step with the rest of society, like that of bankers, he said: “I would not want to make that comparison, but there have been a number of occasions in recent years where it has become an issue, and we want to allay public concern.”

The university governance report also called for the introduction of a statute for Scotland’s higher education sector setting out the key principles of governance and management, as well as elected chairs of university courts.

Tory education spokeswoman Liz Smith, MSP, said she was concerned about the SNP’s “centralisation agenda” and increased “meddling” in the running of the country’s colleges and universities.

She said: “The fact that the Scottish Government will have ministerial oversight of the appointment of the chair of the new regional college boards will threaten the autonomy that colleges have enjoyed since 1992.”

The Committee of Scottish Chairs, which represents the governing bodies of Scotland’s universities, said the recommendation for the election of chairs by potentially only two of an institution’s stakeholders would “not improve governance” and would “introduce material conflicts of interest”.

Tony Brian, the chair of Glasgow Caledonian University, said: “It is important to ensure that any changes strengthen and not weaken the existing good governance, in what is a highly successful sector which punches far above its weight, with Scotland having five universities in the top 200 in the world.”