More than half of Victoria’s vice-chancellors are earning annual salaries of more than $1m, new data reveals, as the federal government vows to crack down on excessive senior university pay packages.
The 2023 annual reports of Victorian universities, lodged on Wednesday, revealed six of Victoria’s eight vice-chancellors had their salaries boosted last year, including separate rises of more than $50,000.
It came despite five universities posting annual deficits, citing ongoing financial recovery from the Covid pandemic and associated losses in international student numbers.
The highest executive salary increase was for Monash University, sitting at $1,560,000 to $1,569,999 in 2023, compared with $1,370,000 to $1,379,999 in 2022.
The university attributed the variation to the departure of the university’s vice-chancellor during the reporting period and the remuneration of the vice-chancellor in the disclosure for the full year – including a payout of $620,991.
“The vice-chancellor is responsible for the academic and corporate leadership of Australia’s largest university, which has an annual turnover of more than $5.6bn,” a spokesperson said, adding they were effectively “both the chief academic and CEO of one of Australia’s largest organisations”.
Swinburne, Deakin, Federation University and RMIT also increased the pay packages of their vice-chancellors, despite all but Swinburne posting an annual deficit.
The minister for education, Jason Clare, said the Universities Accord which was handed down this year “made clear” that university governance needed to be strengthened and workplace relations compliance needed to be improved in the tertiary sector.
According to the National Tertiary Education Union, wage theft totals in the university sector are estimated at $170m, while two-thirds of the higher education workforce is employed insecurely.
“We are acting,” Clare told Guardian Australia.
“Last week, education ministers progressed reforms to establish a new regulatory approach that strengthens university governance, including ensuring a more rigorous and transparent approach to how senior university staff are paid.”
Federation University, which doubled its deficit in 2023 to -$81m, increased vice-chancellor Duncan Bentley’s salary by more than $20,000 last year to between $890,000 and $899,999.
The university is facing three days of union protests at its campuses over management’s plans to cut 200 ongoing positions – the equivalent of just over one in 10 staff members.
A spokesperson for the university said the cuts came in response to an ongoing decline in student numbers which had been exacerbated by “unexpected but necessary changes to international student visa arrangements”.
Deakin University, which posted an operating deficit of -$54.8m, boosted its vice-chancellor’s pay package from about $985,000 to between $1,000,000 to $1,099,999 in 2023.
A spokesperson said Prof Iain Martin’s total remuneration included salary, contractual performance incentives, superannuation and accrued leave.
Swinburne’s vice-chancellor received a pay increase of $10,000, taking the salary to between $1,040,000 to $1,049,999 amid an operating surplus of $24.3m, while RMIT’s vice-chancellor, Prof Alec Cameron, had his salary jump by more than $50,000 to sit between $1,000,000 and $1,009,999.
That came despite RMIT reporting an operating deficit of -$11.6m in 2023, a narrowed margin from a -$27.7m deficit in 2022.
A spokesperson for RMIT said Cameron’s salary was a reflection of the “scale and scope” of his role, pointing to the “global university” he led with students and staff across Melbourne, Vietnam and Spain. It was also the first full year of his tenure with 2022 being pro rata.
Victoria University’s vice-chancellor, Prof Adam Shoemaker, received an additional fortnightly pay in 2023 compared with 2022, bringing his salary to between $840,000 and $849,999, compared with $810,000 to $819,999. The university narrowed its deficit from -$73.2m in 2022 to -$18.1m in 2023.
“Shoemaker did not receive a pay rise in 2023; in fact, he hasn’t received one since he started in the role in December 2020,” a spokesperson said.
Dr Alison Barnes, the president of the NTEU, said vice-chancellor salaries should not exceed those of the premier of the state in which they worked.
The average salary of a vice-chancellor in Australia is twice that of the prime minister, according to Public Universities Australia.
“It’s absurd and offensive that vice-chancellors are taking home more than $1m a year while two-thirds of the higher education workforce is employed insecurely,” Barnes said.
“The same people who have overseen $170m in wage theft are getting their already outrageous salaries increased. This is wildly out of step with community expectations [and] international comparisons.”
La Trobe University and the University of Melbourne were the only universities to cut the pay packages of its vice-chancellors.
Amid a minor operating surplus of $3.1m, La Trobe’s vice-chancellor took a cut of $10,000 to sit on $960k to $970k.
The University of Melbourne’s vice-chancellor, Prof Duncan Maskell, took the same pay cut but remained one of the most highly remunerated executives in the country – sitting on a salary of $1,440,000 to $1,454,999.
The university posted an operating deficit of -$71m in 2023, slightly smaller than its -$104m deficit in 2022.
• This article was amended on 3 May 2024 to make clear that the vice-chancellor of Victoria University was paid for an additional fortnight in 2023 compared with 2022, rather than receiving a pay rise.
