The vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra got a 71 per cent rise in his remuneration before he resigned from the university six months ago.
The UC annual report reveals Paddy Nixon's package was $1.8 million in 2023 compared with just over $1 million in 2022.
Professor Nixon resigned suddenly in January for unspecified reasons, beyond saying they were "personal".
The unexplained reasons for the departure have prompted the union at the university to question whether the hike in his remuneration included some sort of special one-off payment, a "golden handshake" as it's sometimes known.
"The vice-chancellor's remuneration package raises serious questions about governance at the University of Canberra," said Lachlan Clohesy, ACT leader of the National Tertiary Education Union.
"We were told he resigned for personal reasons but this figure suggests a significant payout. Was this a golden handshake at the taxpayers' expense?"
Prof Nixon didn't respond to requests for comment. His 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 university declined to elaborate.
"Vice-chancellor salary and entitlements are confidentially negotiated with University Council. The university will not be commenting further," a statement attributed to Lisa Paul, UC chancellor, said.
The union's national leader compared Prof 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. (Vice-chancellors are, in effect, the day-to-day heads of universities - the chancellor takes on a more ceremonial role.)
The NTEU said Prof Nixon's $1.8 million was higher than that of the vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne ($1.4 million) and the University of Sydney ($1.2 million). The remuneration of the ANU's then-vice-chancellor, Brian Schmidt, in 2023 was $852,242 (the salary of his successor has not been published).
The University of Canberra is largely financed from Commonwealth funds but has a "partnership" with the ACT government. It was set up under ACT legislation. It comes under Economic Development rather than Education in government departments, with Chief Minister Andrew Barr as the relevant minister - though the ACT government has no say in the running of the university.
The NTEU is annoyed Prof Nixon's remuneration from the taxpayer came as funding for universities was tightened.
"Vice-chancellors' salaries across Australia are completely out of step with community expectations," national union head Dr Barnes said.
"Despite these enormous pay packets, our universities have endured $382 million of wage theft, two-thirds of the workforce are employed insecurely and we see workloads that risk the health and safety of staff.
"We need urgent governance reform to rein in these huge salaries and put some accountability around remuneration packages of senior university leaders."
Prof Nixon joined the University of Canberra in March, 2020 after leaving his post as vice-chancellor and president of Ulster University in Northern Ireland (the same titles he then took in Canberra).
He arrived at the start of the pandemic and had his compulsory two weeks of confinement in the vice-chancellor's lodge on the university campus.
He came with a glowing reputation, both in academia and in business, collaborating with Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and Intel (as a research director).
He had held academic positions at Trinity College and University College, both in Dublin, the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, the University of Tasmania and Ulster University. He also worked at the California Institute of Technology.
He was a rugby union fan. He described himself as young enough at 52 to think he could still play but old enough to know he couldn't.
