University VCs are joining the ranks of the neoliberal plutocrats — overpaid as well as incompetent, certainly in the case of our “leader” Ratty. Like the banks, universities have begun to justify these inflated salaries as the price of “talent”. In 2013/14, Kingston’s VC earned nearly £240,000, not as excessive, true, as the worst fat rats who trouser more than £600K for their guidance of British universities down the drain, but massive compared to the average lecturer salary at Kingston, due to rise by a measly 1% this year. This is a high price to pay for a manager who cannot manage, whose bullying approach to staff relations and employment of vacuous management language leaves the staff complaining to each other of their low morale.
Ratty of course would claim that he has inched the University the odd place up the league tables, which admittedly is better than London Met’s bottom place, rewarding its VC £600,000+ for this display of bum bumping. This information comes thanks to the UCU’s freedom of information request. But such information may soon be exempt from FoI requests if the proposals of the education green paper ever make it into law. That would suit Ratty just fine.