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InQuire The University of Kent’s student newspaper
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19 February 2015
Issue 11.11
Meetings Mondays at 6.15pm, Student Media Centre
Are superfoods hyped?
Is art a man’s world?
Features Page 9
Culture Page 16
Interview with City Sound Project Entertainment Page 14
Vice-Chancellor under fire for £26,000 flights • £26,000 spent on business and first class air travel in 2014/15 • Salary payrise of £43,000 in 2013/14 to £265,000 Ruby Lyle Newspaper Editor
D
ame Julia Goodfellow, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Kent, has been revealed to have spent £26,635.18 on air travel in the 2014/15 academic year, this is an increase of £19,748.43 spent on flights in 2013/14 (previously £6,886.75). Furthermore, 92 per cent of air travel has been taken in either business or first class. These statistics have come from the University and College Union (UCU), who released a report on 11 February on the pay and expenses of ViceChancellors in UK universities. When asked about the ViceChancellor’s travel expenses, the University said: “The University has a strategic objective to become a globally recognised research institution by 2020. In support of this objective, the Vice-Chancellor is expected to travel extensively to establish international links
with overseas universities, and to promote the University internationally. Due to 2014/15 being the University’s 50th anniversary year, the ViceChancellor was also required to undertake more travel than
Along with this total of £32,308.83 spent on flights and hotels, another issue raised by the UCU report was the matter of pay for vice chancellors. In 2013/14, Goodfellow’s pay rose £222,000
usual.” The average flight costs for other UK Vice-Chancellors for the previous academic year was £8,560. In conjuncture with the costs of air travel, it was also found that Dame Julia Goodfellow spent £5,673.56 on hotel accommodation. This is a total of £2,683.63
higher than the average expenditure by university vicechancellors.
• Accommodation wellmarket as the experience value of the of £1,115,000
• £5,673.56 spent on hotel rooms in 2014/15 t
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£265,000, a rise of £43,000. As was reported at the time of the increase, the British Prime Minister is paid £142,500. UCU also raised the point, however, t h a t , on a v e r a g e , university s t a f f are paid 6.7 times less than university VCs.
On Kent’s VC pay rate, the University stated: “The University of Kent is a top 20 UK university and the ViceChancellor’s salary reflects her positon as the leader of an ambitious multi-million pound, international organisation. It is in line with the sector average pay for vice-chancellors and is comparable to similarly-sized public and private sector organisations.” On 17 November 2015, InQuire interviewed the Vice-Chancellor. On the matter of justifying her pay in relation to cuts to national funding and education, she had this to say: “The calculation of my wage is done by the remuneration committee, without me being in the room. They will consider the going rate for Vice-Chancellors of other universities in the UK, as
person in similar roles, and their achievements each year. The amount I get paid is appraised each year, based on a number of objectives that are set for me. “In relation to other ViceChancellor’s pay cheques at other universities, my wage is actually around average.” Another aspect of the role of Vice-Chancellor at Kent is the provision of accommodation by the University. UCU has found that Goodfellow’s home has a current market value of £1,115,000. According to Right Move, Canterbury has an average house price of £262,602. Goodfellow’s 2014/15 bill was also found to include management consultancy fees of £150,238. Prospects.ac.uk state that the role of management consultants is to “solve issues, create value, maximise growth and improve business performance”. In this category, Kent’s Vice Chancellor has spent below average, with others paying fees of £499,360.30 on average. Continued on page two.