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YOU WON'T GET RICH (BUT YOU MIGHT GET A FREE TURKEY)
by Jack Grove
The Times Higher Education Supplement
March 22, 2012
Global study shows scholars' salaries fail to match pay in many other
professions. Jack Grove reports.
Academic salaries are no longer sufficient to attract the brightest
and best into the sector, according to the co-author of a new global
survey of higher education pay.
Philip Altbach, director of the Center for International Higher
Education at Boston College, said that academic pay lagged behind
that of many other professionals, with pay gaps most pronounced in
senior posts.
His comments preface the publication next month of a report on academic
pay in 28 countries, titled Paying the Professoriate, jointly authored
by academics at Boston College and the Higher School of Economics
in Russia.
The study considered average salaries for academics in full-time
permanent posts at public universities worldwide, adjusted to reflect
the cost of living in each country. It indicated whether an academic
salary was enough to allow scholars to live a "middle-class" lifestyle.
Canada topped the pay league, with academics receiving an average of
$7,196 (£ 4,537) a month before tax, when figures were adjusted for
purchasing-power parity.
The UK finished in seventh place - behind Italy, South Africa, India,
the US and Saudi Arabia - with academics being paid $5,943 a month
on average, just ahead of Australia, the Netherlands and Germany.
The lowest paid were academics in Armenia, who earned about $538
a month - less than a tenth of UK pay. Slightly better off were
their peers in Russia ($617) and China ($720). The report noted that
moonlighting was rife in these countries.
In many countries, professorial pay was also significantly lower than
the salaries awarded to senior figures in a number of professions,
said Professor Altbach.
"You can tell the health of a higher education system by whether
it can recruit the best and brightest within society" - and in most
countries they cannot, he said.
"In low-paid countries, academics get as much moonlighting in a second
job as they get for their normal salary. In average-paid countries,
most rely on some extra work, which is ultimately bad for the system
as they are not fully focused on their main role."
Professor Altbach noted that national variations in salaries
contributed to a global brain drain from countries where academics
were less well paid.
"Even where academic salaries compare relatively well with general
wages, as in India, the much higher base salaries in North America
or Europe lure many Indians abroad," he said.
In many countries, universities were competing with law and
accountancy firms to attract good staff, he noted, but salaries in
those professions had risen so much that the higher education sector
was struggling to keep up.
"Even the salaries of law professors, who are paid a third more than
other professors, do not compare favourably to someone employed at
a half-decent law firm," he said.
"School superintendents will earn much more than the people training
them at universities."
However, academics at the very top of their fields did have the
potential to command high salaries, Professor Altbach said.
"(Those at) the top of the professoriate are part of a global labour
market for academics. Their salaries can be very high, but this is
not true for the vast majority."
The data used in the study took into account extracurricular pay,
pension payments and other fringe benefits.
The report also highlighted facets of academic pay that were unique
to specific countries. Some Indian academics received a bonus for
having a vasectomy or hysterectomy, the study said, while Mexican
scholars traditionally receive a frozen turkey at Christmas.
Salaries for academic staff at private universities, such as Ivy
League institutions in the US, were not considered in the study. But
those scholars were not necessarily better paid, noted Professor
Altbach. Academics at for-profit institutions in Brazil and China were
often on lower rates of pay than those at state universities, he said.
Paul Curran, vice-chancellor of City University London, who chairs
the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, which negotiates
academic pay, said he believed that comparisons between countries
were difficult, but he welcomed the report.
"The UK's academic staff are highly valued and committed professionals
with reward packages and contracts that reflect this," Professor
Curran said.
But Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union,
said that despite punching above their weight globally, UK academics
were paid less than contemporaries in "key comparator countries".
by Jack Grove
The Times Higher Education Supplement
March 22, 2012
Global study shows scholars' salaries fail to match pay in many other
professions. Jack Grove reports.
Academic salaries are no longer sufficient to attract the brightest
and best into the sector, according to the co-author of a new global
survey of higher education pay.
Philip Altbach, director of the Center for International Higher
Education at Boston College, said that academic pay lagged behind
that of many other professionals, with pay gaps most pronounced in
senior posts.
His comments preface the publication next month of a report on academic
pay in 28 countries, titled Paying the Professoriate, jointly authored
by academics at Boston College and the Higher School of Economics
in Russia.
The study considered average salaries for academics in full-time
permanent posts at public universities worldwide, adjusted to reflect
the cost of living in each country. It indicated whether an academic
salary was enough to allow scholars to live a "middle-class" lifestyle.
Canada topped the pay league, with academics receiving an average of
$7,196 (£ 4,537) a month before tax, when figures were adjusted for
purchasing-power parity.
The UK finished in seventh place - behind Italy, South Africa, India,
the US and Saudi Arabia - with academics being paid $5,943 a month
on average, just ahead of Australia, the Netherlands and Germany.
The lowest paid were academics in Armenia, who earned about $538
a month - less than a tenth of UK pay. Slightly better off were
their peers in Russia ($617) and China ($720). The report noted that
moonlighting was rife in these countries.
In many countries, professorial pay was also significantly lower than
the salaries awarded to senior figures in a number of professions,
said Professor Altbach.
"You can tell the health of a higher education system by whether
it can recruit the best and brightest within society" - and in most
countries they cannot, he said.
"In low-paid countries, academics get as much moonlighting in a second
job as they get for their normal salary. In average-paid countries,
most rely on some extra work, which is ultimately bad for the system
as they are not fully focused on their main role."
Professor Altbach noted that national variations in salaries
contributed to a global brain drain from countries where academics
were less well paid.
"Even where academic salaries compare relatively well with general
wages, as in India, the much higher base salaries in North America
or Europe lure many Indians abroad," he said.
In many countries, universities were competing with law and
accountancy firms to attract good staff, he noted, but salaries in
those professions had risen so much that the higher education sector
was struggling to keep up.
"Even the salaries of law professors, who are paid a third more than
other professors, do not compare favourably to someone employed at
a half-decent law firm," he said.
"School superintendents will earn much more than the people training
them at universities."
However, academics at the very top of their fields did have the
potential to command high salaries, Professor Altbach said.
"(Those at) the top of the professoriate are part of a global labour
market for academics. Their salaries can be very high, but this is
not true for the vast majority."
The data used in the study took into account extracurricular pay,
pension payments and other fringe benefits.
The report also highlighted facets of academic pay that were unique
to specific countries. Some Indian academics received a bonus for
having a vasectomy or hysterectomy, the study said, while Mexican
scholars traditionally receive a frozen turkey at Christmas.
Salaries for academic staff at private universities, such as Ivy
League institutions in the US, were not considered in the study. But
those scholars were not necessarily better paid, noted Professor
Altbach. Academics at for-profit institutions in Brazil and China were
often on lower rates of pay than those at state universities, he said.
Paul Curran, vice-chancellor of City University London, who chairs
the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, which negotiates
academic pay, said he believed that comparisons between countries
were difficult, but he welcomed the report.
"The UK's academic staff are highly valued and committed professionals
with reward packages and contracts that reflect this," Professor
Curran said.
But Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union,
said that despite punching above their weight globally, UK academics
were paid less than contemporaries in "key comparator countries".