When the students’ association is more rational than the academic!
The Press reports:
New Zealand’s university vice-chancellors are earning between $466,000 and $827,000 a year – as the tertiary sector grapples with reduced government funding and staff redundancies.
$466k doesn’t seem over-paid, while $827 does seem a lot. But rather than go off my reckons, let’s look at how they compare to similar sized universities in Australia, as we are basically in the same labour market. According to ChatGPT:
| New Zealand university | Approx. students/EFTS | NZ vice-chancellor remuneration | Comparable Australian university | Approx. Australian remuneration | Australian premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auckland | 37,000 EFTS | NZ$780,000–$800,000 | Queensland | A$1.15m = NZ$1.27m | about 60% higher |
| AUT | 25,000 EFTS | NZ$650,000–$690,000 | QUT | A$1.17m = NZ$1.29m | about 90% higher |
| Massey | 20,000 EFTS | NZ$650,000–$690,000 | Deakin | about A$1.15m = NZ$1.27m | about 90% higher |
| Otago | 19,000 EFTS | about NZ$630,000 annualised | Tasmania | about A$1.05m = NZ$1.16m | about 84% higher |
| Canterbury | 18,000 EFTS | NZ$610,000–$650,000 | Newcastle | about A$1.10m = NZ$1.21m | about 90% higher |
| Victoria University of Wellington | 14,000 EFTS | NZ$600,000–$640,000 | Flinders | about A$1.05m = NZ$1.16m | about 87% higher |
| Waikato | 13,000 EFTS | NZ$600,000–$640,000 | Canberra | about A$1.00m = NZ$1.10m | about 77% higher |
| Lincoln | 3,500 EFTS | NZ$450,000–$490,000 | Federation University | about A$800,000 = NZ$880,000 | about 87% higher |
That’s a useful contrast.
We then had this comment:
Otago University political science associate professor Brian Roper said “exorbitant” vice-chancellor salaries stem from a neoliberal model that treated public universities like private corporations to justify corporate-style executive pay.
The moment they say neo-liberal, you know you can stop reading!
But compare that to this balanced comment from VUWSA:
Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association president Aidan Donoghue said the high salaries of vice-chancellors were necessary to attract high-quality candidates.
“Vic is the second largest employer in Wellington, they have a revenue of about 600 million [dollars]. If that was a private entity, you would expect that sort of compensation for the person who’s effectively managing all the daily operations.”
He acknowledged that students would find it hard to hear.
A pretty sensible comment. I would caution though that comparing to private sector is not apples and oranges as most private sector entities get the vast majority of their revenue from keeping customers happy, not from government funding.