51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

Some three-quarters of Australia¡¯s university leaders are relinquishing pay to help offset a pandemic-induced revenue downturn of more than A$4 billion (?2.1 billion) across the sector.

At least 28 of Australia¡¯s 41 vice-chancellors have accepted salary reductions, a Times Higher Education analysis has found. Seventeen have given up 20 per cent of their earnings, with four ceding 25 per cent or more. Another four have sacrificed 10 per cent, two have made one-off donations and another is considering how much to forgo.

High-ranked executives of at least 23 of the universities have followed suit, mostly giving up the same proportion of pay as their vice-chancellors. Western Sydney 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ said that 50 senior staff had contributed up to 20 per cent of their earnings.

Bond 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ said that 37 senior executives had each relinquished 20 per cent of their pay. Swinburne 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ said that its entire executive group had agreed to a 30 per cent cut.

Leaders¡¯ salary offcuts at 14 institutions have been channelled into hardship funds for students experiencing financial difficulty. Charles Darwin 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ said that its vice-chancellor Simon Maddocks, who had reduced his salary by 20 per cent for the rest of the year, would contribute another 5 per cent to the Student Emergency Appeal for the next three months.

Deakin 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ said that vice-chancellor Iain Martin had relinquished 25 per cent of his pay this year while donating another A$4,000 a month to the Student Emergency Assistance Fund.

Such gestures reveal another side of Australian vice-chancellors, whose corporate-scale remuneration attracts widespread criticism. They garner almost twice as much as their UK counterparts and out-earn most US university presidents.

They pocket considerably more than their cousins in New Zealand, where public sector pay packets are more tightly constrained ¨C and the vice-chancellors of the universities of Canterbury and Otago and Victoria 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Wellington are donating 20 per cent of their earnings to student or staff hardship packages.

Some Australian vice-chancellors have previously engineered pay cuts and some routinely fund scholarships. One is 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Technology Sydney (UTS) boss Attila Brungs, who is this year donating about 25 per cent of his pay to student and staff hardship funds, a spokesman said.

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has focused attention on executive pay cuts, with union leaders lending their support to temporary reductions of up to 15 per cent of staff salaries ¨C but only at universities where vice-chancellors and executives give up more.

Professor Brungs has relinquished pay even though he does not plan to pursue the NTEU deal. ¡°UTS believes the financial situation at our university can be managed without across-the-board cuts to anyone¡¯s remuneration,¡± the spokesman said.

Leaders at Sydney and Murdoch universities have cancelled this year¡¯s pay increases, while the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Southern Queensland¡¯s vice-chancellor is donating hers to a student hardship fund, but none of the three institutions plans executive salary cuts. ¡°We have looked for savings in other areas such as infrastructure spending and a hiring freeze,¡± a Sydney spokeswoman said.

Macquarie and the Australian Catholic 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ (ACU) are not changing executive pay arrangements. ACU¡¯s chief operating officer Stephen Weller said that its losses had been limited by its ¡°modest proportion¡± of overseas students.

He said that the institution was ¡°focused on maintaining our existing work conditions wherever possible. We are not planning to stand down our workforce nor to review salaries of any staff.¡±

Australian vice-chancellors¡¯ Covid-19 salary sacrifices:

30 per cent: Swinburne 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

25 per cent: Charles Darwin 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, Deakin 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Technology Sydney

20 per cent: Bond 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, Central Queensland 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, Griffith 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, James Cook 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, La Trobe 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, Monash 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, RMIT 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Adelaide, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Divinity, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Melbourne, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Notre Dame Australia, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Queensland, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of South Australia, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Western Australia, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Wollongong, UNSW Sydney, Western Sydney 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

10 per cent: Charles Sturt 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, Curtin 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, Federation 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, Victoria 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

Other amounts: Flinders 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ (A$100,000), Queensland 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Technology (committed to cutting remuneration, undecided on scale), 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Newcastle (A$25,000)

Undecided: Australian National 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Canberra

No pay increases: Murdoch 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Southern Queensland, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Sydney

No change planned: Australian Catholic 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, Macquarie 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of the Sunshine Coast

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com