The mystery over why former vice-chancellor Paddy Nixon left the University of Canberra abruptly has deepened with a report in a respected trade journal that his departure happened after a "university leadership retreat".
Professor Nixon resigned suddenly in January for unspecified reasons, beyond the university saying they were "personal".
He told The Canberra Times in February: "It was a sort of difficult process over the Christmas period. We all take that time over holidays just to reflect on things and take account of life and that was a time which I spent a bit of time with family and came to the conclusion."
The UK's Times Higher Education Supplement has now said the parting of the ways between the university and its then vice-chancellor happened late last year at the retreat for senior executives.
Professor Nixon departed soon after.
It later emerged that his remuneration for 2023 had risen from just over $1 million in 2022 to $1.8 million, prompting the union at the university to say the 71 per cent increase implied a special pay-out, sometimes called a "golden handshake".
The University of Canberra initially said it wouldn't comment but the university's chancellor then emailed staff saying the extra $800,000 was not just a rise in pay but also "accrued entitlements".
"There was no 'golden handshake'," Lisa Paul said. She did not specify what the "accrued entitlements" might be.
She took over as the UC chancellor at the start of the year just as Professor Nixon left. The vice-chancellor in a university is responsible for its day-to-day leadership while the chancellor usually takes on a more ceremonial and supervisory role.
The University of Canberra has been asked for comment on the latest report which is in The Times Higher Education Supplement but hadn't responded at the time of writing.
The National Tertiary Education Union was seeking more information.
"Reports today seem to be at odds with explanations of Paddy Nixon's departure from UC being for 'personal reasons'," Lachlan Clohesy, head of the NTEU in the ACT, said.
"Universities desperately need more funding, but it cannot go straight into the pockets of vice-chancellors at the expense of staff and students.
"Between the mysterious circumstances of Paddy Nixon's departure and the exorbitant remuneration reported for 2023, there is a definite sense that this doesn't pass the pub test. UC needs to come clean on exactly what happened and why."
The chancellor of the University of Canberra, the current acting vice-chancellor, the UC governance office and the media relations department were asked for comment but none responded. Paddy Nixon did not respond to a request for comment.
Professor Nixon's LinkedIn profile said he had taken a job as "chief strategist" at a tech company called CareerVitae just after he left the University of Canberra. The union's national leader compared Professor Nixon's remuneration with that of the prime minister, whose pay of around $600,000 was one-third that of the former UC vice-chancellor's package.
"It doesn't make any sense for vice-chancellors to earn so much more than the prime minister does," said Alison Barnes, president of the NTEU.
The union calculated Prof Nixon's final remuneration was the highest of any vice-chancellor in Australia.
