Universities renege over promises made on transparency of principals' pay

• UCU says its findings make a mockery of a commitment to transparency from universities umbrella

• UCU says it is time for Scottish Government to legislate to ensure transparency over runaway pay rises of up to 13 per cent

Of the 17 Scottish universities asked by UCU through an FOI request for copies of the minutes from the remuneration committee - the body tasked with setting their principal's pay, four refused to send any minutes at all and eight sent through heavily redacted minutes obscuring key information.

Where the union did manage to get details and information on principals' pay and perks, Scottish university leaders were amongst the highest claimants in the UK. Professor Sir Jim McDonald from Strathclyde University was the fifth highest spender on air fares in the UK with flights costing £33,508.

Professor Pamela Gillies from Glasgow Caledonian University led the way of all the UK's principals and vice-chancellors on hotel accommodation spending £27,271.  Not to be left out, Ian Diamond, the principal of the University of Aberdeen, had the second highest general expenses claim in the UK racking up a bill of £23,910.

Scottish universities adopted varying and generally disappointing levels of transparency around principals' pay and perks.  The union accused them of behaving in a secretive manner at a time when they faced criticism over principals pocketing pay rises and bonuses of up to 13 per cent, while staff were told there was no money for pay increases.

Last year, the body which represents university principals, Universities Scotland issued a press release saying "the university sector has established a 'new normal' of the very highest standards of transparency, accountability and effectiveness."

UCU's said its findings made a mockery of that claim and called on the Scottish Government to press ahead with legislation to reform university governance based on the findings of the 2012 Review of Higher Education Governance in Scotland and supported by both the staff and students.

Commenting on the findings Mary Senior, UCU Scotland official, said: 'The fact that 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.

'UCU believes universities are, and must remain, autonomous, independent institutions. However, in return for over a billion pounds of public funding each year, politicians are entitled to demand that robust, transparent governance procedures are in place and underpinned with legislation.'

A full copy of the embargoed report is available here. [1mb]

The Review of Higher Education Governance in Scotland found that university governing bodies should have elected chairs and student and staff (including trade union) nominees should sit on the governing bodies.  It also called for transparency in the work of remuneration committees.