Vice-Chancellors are paid like corporate CEOs but are not held to the same level of accountability. The institutions they oversee are publicly funded, but Vice-Chancellors are not subjected to the same level of public scrutiny as senior public servants. While Vice-Chancellor salaries are often justified on the basis of the size of the ‘business’ they run, neither universities nor their senior executives are subject to the same regulatory oversight as privately owned organisations. The universities they oversee are plagued by ongoing scandals and governance failures.

From 1985 to 2023, accounting for inflation, remuneration in Group of Eight (Go8) universities more than quadrupled – from about $300,000 to $1.3 million.

Australia’s Vice-Chancellors remuneration surpasses those found at universities in other English-speaking countries, and vastly exceeds standards in Europe. This high pay is not reflected in high performance: Vice-Chancellors at foreign universities with similar global rankings are paid a fraction of what Australian Vice-Chancellors receive. There is also no correlation between student educational satisfaction and Vice-Chancellor remuneration.

University staff do not benefit from this system. Vice-Chancellor remuneration is now at least seven times higher than what university lecturers receive. Many lecturers and tutors – who teach the classes and conduct the research that is the core business of these public tertiary institutions – are subjected to casualisation, wage underpayments and poor labour practices.

Government-proposed reforms are inadequate. Linking Vice-Chancellor remuneration with senior executive pay in the public service is a step in the right direction, but this fails to recognise that pay among senior management in the public service is also too high.