MORE than £300,000 has been spent by Scottish university principals on their combined expenses, new figures show.

 

Freedom of information requests to institutions found £227,000 was spent on flights in 2013/14 with more than £80,000 spent on hotels and some £10,000 on personal expenses.

The figures, collected by the University and College Union UCU), show some principals in Scotland, who earn six-figure salaries, claimed amongst the highest amounts across the UK.

Professor Sir Jim McDonald, of Strathclyde University, spent £33,508 on flights in 2013/14 while Professor Pamela Gillies, from Glasgow Caledonian University, had total hotel bills of £27,271 over the course of the year.

Mary Senior, UCU Scotland official, said: "Many staff and students will be amazed at the size of principals' salaries, and at the largesse displayed by some university leaders when it comes to first class flights, hotels and other expenses.

"That this is happening in public institutions which get significant funding from the taxpayer makes the lack of transparency and accountability surrounding senior pay and perks a national scandal."

Gordon Maloney, president of NUS Scotland, which represents students, described the findings as "worrying".

He said: "It's clear we need to see much tougher action on principals pay and benefits, and the transparency and accountability going with that.

"Just as worrying is the fact that many principals across the country are cashing in on expenses worth well over and above the annual pay of many of their fellow staff.

"Every principal in Scotland is currently paid more than the First Minister, yet there's still staff being paid less than a living wage. To then see them pocketing tens of thousands of pounds worth of expenses, while staff struggle on, underpaid and undervalued, will come across as completely out of touch."

However, a spokeswoman for Universities Scotland, which represents university principals, said all expenses were subject to "stringent" internal and external scrutiny to ensure they represented best value for money.

She said: "As leaders of higher education institutions which operate in a global marketplace and work extensively with industry, university principals will accrue expenses in relation to their work to further the interests of their institutions and Scotland's higher education sector.

"Universities are involved in many high-value UK and international collaborations and a number of Scottish universities run courses and even campuses overseas.

"Scotland's university principals are committed to running their institutions efficiently and responsibly and apply those same principles to their own work for their institutions - that means expenses accrued will always be in relation to work that is essential to the mission of the university and to fulfilling the university's role in helping Scotland's society and economy."

Meanwhile, union chiefs also urged the Scottish Government to legislate to end the "secretive" meetings where university principals' pay is set.

The UCU said two-thirds of UK higher education institutions had failed to provide full, transparent details of the committee meetings where the principal's pay is determined.

Only five Scottish universities - Glasgow School of Art, Queen Margaret University, in Edinburgh, Glasgow University, Stirling University and Strathclyde University - sent through full minutes from their committees.

Ms Senior added: "The fact over two-thirds of Scottish universities are refusing to disclose full details of secretive meetings that set principals' pay makes a mockery of claims by Universities Scotland that Scottish institutions are setting the benchmark for transparency.

"The time has come for the Scottish Government to legislate to reform higher education governance and ensure that our universities are more democratic, representative and transparent."