Fat cat uni boss who claimed £37,429 of expenses on foreign travel slammed by staff
'His expenses might be first class but his leadership is third rate.'
The head of a cash-strapped university who the Sunday Mail revealed claimed £37,429 of expenses on foreign travel has been accused of 'utter contempt' by staff.
Professor James Miller, principal of the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), went on luxury trips to Barbados, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and South Africa.
Lecturers voted for industrial action in an indicative ballot over possible compulsory redundancies after UWS had a £14.4million deficit in 2023-24.
Unison bosses have confirmed the union is also moving towards a vote of no confidence in senior figures.
Meanwhile, the EIS teaching union says its vote of no confidence has taken place and UWS notified.
A survey of EIS members highlighted a litany of alleged failings from Miller which included 'secretiveness' and 'a track record of failure'.
Members could anonymously nominate any of the senior team they felt were accountable for mismanagement and overwhelmingly nominated Miller.
The survey, seen by the Sunday Mail, included the comment: 'A £14million deficit and £40,000 in travel? That's not leadership — it's negligence' and, 'No trust remains in a principal who flies to Barbados while pleading poverty at home.'
Others said: 'His expenses might be first class but his leadership is third rate' and, 'No confidence in a man who gambled with our finances and lost.'
We told how the fatcat, 61, who earns £288,000 a year including pension contributions, is among 12 senior uni staff to have claimed expenses of more than £163,000 in less than two years.
A trip to Barbados by Prof Miller cost £5970 for flights and hotel stays in November 2023. The four-day event was described on expenses claims as "a Strategic Partnership Agreement" during which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus and the UWS.
In October 2023 Professor Miller also spent £5631.09 on a trip to attend COP28 Partnership Meetings in Dubai and £5867.28 on return flights to South Africa to present at the GEC+Africa 2024 Congress last February.
In August, return flights to attend the two-day "Going Global" conference in Abuja, Nigeria, cost £5058.81 and a trip to Dubai to preside at graduation ceremonies cost £3717.98 in October the same year.
Other expenses included £3172.80 for return flights from Dubai to Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur as well as £2782.28 for return flights to New York to attend and participate in the Tartan Day Parade in April 2024.
UWS said: 'Our senior leadership team, the university Court and its sub-committees have formulated, approved and overseen the ongoing implementation of our multi-year plan and organisational change project.
"UWS cannot comment on unattributable, anonymous surveys which appear to be based largely on misleading information.'
Unison Scotland lead for higher education John Mooney said: 'The university top brass need to get their heads out of the sand, take compulsory redundancies off the table and work with unions to resolve the universities' financial issues.'
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Daily Record
a day ago
- Daily Record
Fat cat uni boss who claimed £37,429 of expenses on foreign travel slammed by staff
'His expenses might be first class but his leadership is third rate.' The head of a cash-strapped university who the Sunday Mail revealed claimed £37,429 of expenses on foreign travel has been accused of 'utter contempt' by staff. Professor James Miller, principal of the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), went on luxury trips to Barbados, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and South Africa. Lecturers voted for industrial action in an indicative ballot over possible compulsory redundancies after UWS had a £14.4million deficit in 2023-24. Unison bosses have confirmed the union is also moving towards a vote of no confidence in senior figures. Meanwhile, the EIS teaching union says its vote of no confidence has taken place and UWS notified. A survey of EIS members highlighted a litany of alleged failings from Miller which included 'secretiveness' and 'a track record of failure'. Members could anonymously nominate any of the senior team they felt were accountable for mismanagement and overwhelmingly nominated Miller. The survey, seen by the Sunday Mail, included the comment: 'A £14million deficit and £40,000 in travel? That's not leadership — it's negligence' and, 'No trust remains in a principal who flies to Barbados while pleading poverty at home.' Others said: 'His expenses might be first class but his leadership is third rate' and, 'No confidence in a man who gambled with our finances and lost.' We told how the fatcat, 61, who earns £288,000 a year including pension contributions, is among 12 senior uni staff to have claimed expenses of more than £163,000 in less than two years. A trip to Barbados by Prof Miller cost £5970 for flights and hotel stays in November 2023. The four-day event was described on expenses claims as "a Strategic Partnership Agreement" during which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus and the UWS. In October 2023 Professor Miller also spent £5631.09 on a trip to attend COP28 Partnership Meetings in Dubai and £5867.28 on return flights to South Africa to present at the GEC+Africa 2024 Congress last February. In August, return flights to attend the two-day "Going Global" conference in Abuja, Nigeria, cost £5058.81 and a trip to Dubai to preside at graduation ceremonies cost £3717.98 in October the same year. Other expenses included £3172.80 for return flights from Dubai to Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur as well as £2782.28 for return flights to New York to attend and participate in the Tartan Day Parade in April 2024. UWS said: 'Our senior leadership team, the university Court and its sub-committees have formulated, approved and overseen the ongoing implementation of our multi-year plan and organisational change project. "UWS cannot comment on unattributable, anonymous surveys which appear to be based largely on misleading information.' Unison Scotland lead for higher education John Mooney said: 'The university top brass need to get their heads out of the sand, take compulsory redundancies off the table and work with unions to resolve the universities' financial issues.' Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
Edinburgh Live
4 days ago
- Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh University boss who 'didn't know his own salary' spent £47k on luxury travel
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A uni boss who told MSPs he didn't know his own £421,667 salary spent £47,000 on luxury foreign junkets in just two years. University of Edinburgh vice-chancellor and principal Sir Peter Mathieson racked up £42,456 on business class flights to destinations including South Africa, South Korea, the US and Hong Kong between March 2022 and May last year. An investigation by the Sunday Mail uncovered £3059 spent on accommodation, and £1336 on transport in Milan, London, Texas, Brussels, Warsaw and Hong Kong from September 2023 to last July. It comes as his lecturers are set to walk out in a dispute over a refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies as part of plans to save £140million. The principal, who took the role in 2018, appeared at a Holyrood committee last week and claimed he didn't know how much he earned. Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills Miles Briggs said: 'When Sir Peter plans to cut many hundreds, and possibly more than a thousand, jobs at the University of Edinburgh, people will be surprised that there is still the budget for trips of this sort. 'International travel to promote the university may be reasonable, but it's difficult to see why it should cost tens of thousands of pounds while swingeing cuts are being made elsewhere and so many jobs could be under threat.' Unison's lead for universities, John Mooney said: 'People are appalled by the behaviour of Scotland's university top brass. Especially when the sector is in serious debt and hard-working staff are losing their jobs. 'Chancellors and principals get paid eye-watering salaries well beyond anything their students and staff could dream of. 'I can assure you ordinary university staff don't have the luxury of not knowing what their salaries are.' Mathieson – who earned £421,667 last year according to the uni's latest accounts – has racked up thousands on business class travel. A total of £8458 was spent on return business flights from Heathrow to South Africa's OR Tambo airport to visit the University of the Wit-watersrand in recognition of the importance of 'partners from the global south being in attendance' at a COP27 summit in May 2022. Expenses also included return flights from Edinburgh to South Korea which cost £8818 in May 2024. That was for a symposium aimed at fostering UK-Korea partnerships. He also claimed £4127 for return business class flights from Edinburgh to Washington in March 2022 and New Jersey in November 2023. And £4946 was spent to fly to Hong Kong in April last year. Holyrood committee convener Douglas Ross told Mathieson his reported six-figure package was more than the combined wages of First Minister John Swinney and PM Keir Starmer. Mathieson said: 'The figure that is often quoted in the press is something around £400,000 a year but I don't scrutinise my slip so I don't know the exact figure. 'I don't think it's quite as high as that but I'm certainly very well paid. 'I'd need to get my P60 out to show it to you but I don't carry that figure around in my head but I'm very well paid.' . He also confirmed he was given a five per cent pay rise last year and a 2.5 per cent increase this January When Ross asked if, given the cuts, a reduction in his salary would be beneficial, Mathieson said: 'I've made the point in the discussions about senior team pay that you could pay the senior team of Edinburgh university nothing and it would make almost no difference to the size of the expenditure challenge we face.' The expense figures were obtained by the Sunday Mail under Freedom of Information laws. Prior to March 2022, the university's travel management partner was Key Travel and as a result, in the 2021/22 financial year, the university does not hold details on flight class or destination. From August 1 2021 to February 28. 2022, the university holds only the year of the transaction, cost, and travel type. Members of the University and College Union will strike on June 20, with a five-day walkout in September. Mooney said: 'It's highly paid bosses' incompetence that got us into this mess but it's lower paid staff who pay the cost with their jobs and low pay. Our education system is too important for Scotland's skills, jobs and economy, we need to hold these people accountable.' The University of Edinburgh said: 'Each of these visits represent milestones for important projects and partnerships, many being the culmination of years of work by academics and professional staff from across the university.' It said its global profile is something it is 'hugely proud of' and added: 'As the University's most senior leader, the principal's presence at such events is vital for building relationships, encouraging investment and underlining our ongoing commitment to work with partners in delivering positive change worldwide.'
Daily Record
4 days ago
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Disposable vapes ban flouted across Scotland including shops linked to Anas Sarwar's family's firm
Our investigation uncovered retailers still brazenly selling outlawed devices despite the single-use vape ban coming into force on June 1. A new ban on disposable vapes is being flouted by shops across Scotland - including stores franchised by Labour leader Anas Sarwar's family's firm, the Sunday Mail can reveal. Despite a nationwide ban on the sale and supply of single-use vapes coming into force on June 1, a Sunday Mail investigation has uncovered some retailers that are still brazening selling outlawed devices. Our investigator was able to buy a selection of banned single-use vapes including one Elfbar disposable at a Glasgow city centre USave store which has links to Sarwar's family's wholesaling business. While the shop is an independent retailer, it trades under the USave banner which is franchised by United Wholesale (Scotland), set up by the Scottish Labour chief's father, millionaire businessman Mohammad Sarwar. 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The illegal vapes we collected were clearly single-use because there was no facility to recharge the devices or refill the e-liquid pods. Other stores sold us legal vapes branded as prefilled pods that look similar to the old disposables - with sweet candy flavours like Cola Ice and Gummy Bear - which have been criticised for enticing kids to take up the nicotine-based products. Because these products have charging ports and pods which can be removed and replaced, they are deemed compliant with the regulations. Critics say disposable vape users will continue to use these products in the same way because of their cheapness, throwing them away after use. Sources told the Sunday Mail the sale of disposable vapes remains rife up and down the country despite the June 1 ban, with reports of illegal trading in Edinburgh, Kilmarnoc k, and Falkirk. Some 8million polluting disposable vapes, which contain single-use plastic and lithium, are disposed of incorrectly or littered in the UK every week. In Edinburgh, responsible local vapes firm VPZ - which backs the ban on single-use vapes but has repeatedly warned about loopholes - said the first week of the ban had been chaotic amid chaos and confusion over the new rules. They also say Trading Standards officers are stretched too thin to enforce it - and criticised 'weak' starting fines of just £200. Presented with the Sunday Mail's findings, Jamie Strachan, operations director at VPZ, said: 'I'm not in the slightest surprised you've found illicit vapes are still being sold in many shops across Glasgow. 'It matches with the picture we're seeing up and down the country. 'A walk through many towns and cities across Scotland would not suggest a ban is in place... in its current form, it is not effective. 'This is because fines start at just £200 - generously reduced to £150 if retailers pay within 14 days. The reality is that without robust enforcement, the rules will simply be ignored. 'Unfortunately, products that closely resemble the now-banned disposables - often with removable pods or mouthpieces - are flooding the market. 'These new devices look and feel essentially identical to their predecessors, with the same bright colours and sweet flavours that appeal to younger demographics.' Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Glasgow City Council's Trading Standards department vowed to follow up on the Sunday Mail's findings. A spokesman said: 'From June 1 this year it has become illegal to sell single-use vape products that cannot be recharged or refilled. 'We have written to all premises in Glasgow registered with the Scottish Government who sell vapes to highlight the ban and advise on how to deal with non-compliant stock.' He noted while fixed penalty notices start at £200, non-compliant shopkeepers can be prosecuted with fines of up to £5000 and two years in prison.
