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Students' Petition Over Pay This Page is designed to give information and access to links in relation to the Student petition for an explanation for the 31.7% pay rise awarded to Keele University Vice Chancellor, Janet Finch. It is for Information only. Links to WebPages about the pay rise awarded: Petition Link:
http://www.petitiononline.com/keele/petition.html Update, 11th March 2007: The letter that will be sent on Monday 12th March, to lay members of council, and a copy sent to the Vice Chancellors Office will read: Dear Lay Members of Council, You may already be aware of the level of concern among the student population in the light of recent news of the 31.7% pay rise awarded to Vice Chancellor Janet Finch last year. For the past week students have been signing a petition online, which is calling for an explanation of the pay rise awarded. At the time of this letter, the petition currently has 650 signatures, representing close to 10% of the undergraduate population at Keele. A full print out of signatures has been sent, along with copies of the recent media coverage to Ian Dudson (as Chairman of the University's Senior Remuneration Committee) and a copy sent to the Vice Chancellor. In order to save paper, the full petition has not been sent to all members of council. However, you can view a full and updated list of signatures directly online by visiting: www.petitiononline.com/keele/petition.html
The petition statement reads: “In
the light of recent news of the pay rise awarded to Vice Chancellor Janet
Finch last year, we the undersigned request an explanation of the 31.7% pay
increase awarded. I look forward to your reply. Yours sincerely,
Owen Meredith The following Reply was received from Ian Dudson on 24th March: Dear Mr Meredith, Thank you for your letter dated 12th March 2007, addressed to me in my capacity as Chair of the Senior Remuneration Committee. I am also replying on behalf of the University Council as a result of the letters you have sent to council members. I have noted the points made in the petition and the comments made by some of the students which we intend to treat as student feedback which will be taken into consideration as we plan future investment strategies. As for the Vice-Chancellors salary, I can advise that it is review by the University's Senior Remuneration Committee which consists of lay members of the University Council. The salary increase reported in the Times Higher followed the salary review in February 2006, which was the first review since 2003. As part of the review we conducted a bench marking exercise of comparable universities and we found that the Vice-Chancellor's salary had fallen behind that of the Vice-Chancellor's of those Universities. The review also took into account the Vice-Chancellor's outstanding performance between 2003 and 2006. I was able to advise the Senior Remuneration Committee that I meet regularly with others in the HE sector and Professor Finch is considered to be one of the UK's leading Vice-Chancellors by her peers. Furthermore, her financial management and strategic leadership steered the University through a major period of culture and procedural change and her vision for Keele to become the Ultimate Campus University for the 21st Century is laying foundations for future growth and continued success. Having conducted the benchmarking exercise and considered performance, the Committee set the Vice-Chancellor's salary by estimating the starting salary that would be needed to attract a high calibre candidate to the post should it become vacant and include a reward element to acknowledge performance. The salary is fixed from 2006 to 2009 and will not attract the cost of living increases which are paid to all other staff. Yours Sincerely, Ian Dudson
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