The University is committed to transparency with regard to the remuneration of senior staff, including that of the Vice-Chancellor, and publishes these annually in the University’s Financial Statements.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Shearer West’s salary is currently £286,000. The University also makes the standard employer’s contribution of 21.1%, available to all academic staff, to her USS pension scheme.
Full details of the Vice-Chancellor’s remuneration are published in the table below:
Vice-Chancellor’s remuneration details
| Salary |
£286,000 per annum |
| Salary Review |
Annual review by Remuneration Committee |
| Pension |
Member of the USS pension scheme where the University makes the standard employer’s contribution - currently 21.1%. |
| Travel and expenses |
Business travel and accommodation secured via the University’s central booking systems, and according to the same regulations as apply to all University staff. |
| National Pay Award |
No |
| Bonus or incentive package |
No |
| Private Healthcare |
No |
| Accommodation |
No |
| Car |
No |
| Other benefits |
No |
| Start date |
1 October 2017 |
| Term |
5 years, with an option for extension by mutual consent |
| Notice period |
6 months from either party |
In 2019/20, the Vice-Chancellor’s voluntarily reduced basic salary was 7.89 times the median basic pay of staff, where the median pay is calculated on a full time equivalent basis for the salaries paid by the University to its staff excluding agency staff. Her total remuneration was 7.19 times (2019: 8.03 times) the median total remuneration of staff, where the median total remuneration is calculated on a full-time equivalent basis for the total remuneration by the provider of its staff.
The Vice-Chancellor’s salary has been determined according to a number of factors including, but not limited, to:
- the breadth of leadership responsibilities for one of the UK’s largest universities consisting of 45,000 students and 12,000 staff based in campuses across the UK, China and Malaysia;
- the financial responsibilities for an institution with an annual turnover of £650 million; and which contributes more than £1 billion each year to the national economy;
- the accountability for sustaining a TEF Gold-ranked educational experience for our students; and a world-leading research portfolio worth £600 million.
Senior salaries are set by the University’s Remuneration Committee, comprising independent external members of Council, who possess wider commercial and public sector pay knowledge and expertise.
The Vice-Chancellor is not a member of the Remuneration Committee and has no role in determining remuneration for herself or those under her line management. She does not attend meetings of the Remuneration Committee unless specifically invited to discuss the performance of senior staff under her line management.