How much does the Rector get paid?

The college’s Rector does a very important job. They go on Radio 4 for us, they sign open letters in newspapers, and if you’re lucky and they’re not having a round off, they shake your hand at graduation. The amount these members of staff get paid is always a point of contention.

This week, we took a look at how the President’s pay has changed over the last fifteen years. In that time, we’ve seen fees for home students rise three times, five different Rectors and the building of a brand new campus. Undoubtedly, the Rector has the power to take the university in the direction they see fit. Roy Anderson controversially changed the university logo from a coat of arms to the corporate looking text we have today, and Richard Sykes tried to introduce a student dress code that would’ve banned hoodies and the hijab on campus (which FELIX adamantly fought, by the way). Over the years, Imperial has become more business-oriented – the introduction of the Business School, the college’s rebrand and its multiple management restructures means that being Imperial’s Rector-President hybrid (as the post now is) is a lot like being a company’s CEO.

And is this reflected in the change in pay? Our graph above uses data from a Freedom of Information request and information freely available on the college’s website.

Initially, we see a huge 60% increase in salary when Ronald Oxburgh passed the baton to Richard Sykes in 2001. The bump up in spending in 2008 when Anderson joined is partially explained by the fact that Imperial had both him and his predecessor contracted to work as Rector during July of of that year.

As you might expect, each new Rector has received a modest pay rise on the previous man’s wage. Keith O’Nions’ was perhaps the most frugal few years as head. The fact that his presidency followed the 2008 financial crisis probably has something to do with it. Andrew Sykes’ wage grew modestly every year, meaning he arrived earning £251,000 and left receiving £348,000.

Even now, President and Rector Alice Gast is paid nowhere near as much as Oxford’s Chancellor, Andrew Hamilton, whose ²⁰¹⁴⁄₁₅ paypacket at £462,000 makes him the highest paid university leader in the country.

In February, the Guardian reported that chancellor salaries had gone up 14% over five years – in the same time Imperial’s top job had increased its remuneration fee by 21%.

While the average salary for a university head sits at a modest £272,000, Alice Gast currently enjoys a total fee of £432,000 which includes the college’s contribution to her pension and £25,000 worth of ‘Other’ – presumably the rent on the townhouse that comes with the job on Queen’s Gate. Imperial isn’t an average institution, but can it justify such a decadent pay packet for those at the top when fees are set to rise? It probably can, yes.

Richard Sykes

As well as trying to introduce a dress code for students, Sir Richard was a long-term advocate for increasing top-up fees. Back in the noughties, when home students were paying just £1100 per year, the government was considering raising fees. Whilst other Russell Group chairs suggested £3000 a year, Richard Sykes told the world that he thought a whopping annual fee of £10,500 was justified.

Roy Anderson

Sir Roy Anderson only took on the job for a brief period starting in 2008, before resigning at the end of 2009. In an interview with FELIX he said Imperial rising above Oxford in the rankings was “doable” and is the only rector of recent years to have done his undergraduate degree at the college. He was another Rector in favour of top-up fees, but rather less aggressively than Sykes.

Keith O’Nions

Affectionately known as ‘Keef’ to students, and the only Rector with his own parody Twitter account, Sir Keith stepped in as acting Rector after Anderson’s resignation in 2009. Previously the chief science advisor to the MoD before setting up a security science institute at Imperial, he was the first to get the joint title of President and Rector after a major reshuffle in the upper echelons of college governance.

Alice Gast

Imperial proudly boasted of appointing its female leader back in 2014, when Alice came over from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. Of late, President Gast has been particularly vocal about the possibility of Brexit, having sent out emails and signing open letters that make no secret of her pro-EU stance.