Unlike Dicken’s Christmas Carol, there’s no change of heart from GCU management

GCU management confirmed to unions yesterday that they had no plans to follow the example of the University of the West of Scotland, which had issued a Christmas payment of £250 pro rata to all core staff, in recognition of  ‘the very significant and positive achievements of colleagues in delivering excellence across the University’

Meanwhile a report in the Times Higher Education reported that two London University leaders have chosen not to accept large pay rises as ‘national unrest over a 1 per cent pay offer for rank-and-file staff continues.’ Unions in Scotland have already raised the issue of Principals’ pay on previous occasions.

According to the Times Simon Gaskell, principal of Queen Mary University of London, is to donate a £50,000 pay rise to a scholarship fund at his institution, while City University London vice-chancellor Paul Curran will forgo a £42,000 performance-related bonus.

Mr Gaskell’s move will fund four scholarships of £6,000 for postgraduates and one valued at £25,000 for a student from a developing country. This gift will be repeated ‘for the foreseeable future’

The moves mean that his salary was frozen at £203,000 and and that of Paul Curran at £280,000 for 2012-13, with neither leader accepting a pay hike in the past three years.