Fatcat chiefs at universities need a reality check
Scotland's universities face an unprecedented cash crisis but their pampered principles appear unable to climb down from their ivory towers.
For years the sector has been cashing in on an international reputation for excellence dating back centuries.
That reputation has everything to do with the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century when historic figures like Adam Smith and David Hume made huge advances in the fields of economics and philosophy.
It has meant that in modern times students from around the world have flocked to our country to earn degrees that will be respected by leading employers on every continent.
This success has very little to do with the relatively nonentities who now run these institutions while earning ridiculously inflated salaries.
And now that the foreign student cash bonanza appears to be running out of steam it is time for these uni bosses to realise that the gravy train needs to stop.
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There is little evidence of this happening as can be seen from the Sunday Mail's exclusive revelations today concerning Professor James Miller, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West of Scotland (UWS).
He earns a comically astronomical salary of £288,000 a year - almost double First Minister John Swinney.
But he has still managed to rack up a further £37,429 on expenses in just two years jetting around the world to locations such as Barbados, Dubai and South Africa.
It is difficult to imagine the 'strategic partnerships' he has been working on in these exotic locations will be of any great benefit to his students or the hundreds of his staff who are now facing redundancy.
He is among 12 senior staff at UWS who have claimed more than £163,000 in travel expenses over the period.
It is very likely this sort of extravagant spending on foreign trips will be replicated across other universities facing similar financial pressures as UWS.
Meanwhile the universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Strathclyde and St Andrews are all paying their leaders £400,000 or more a year.
These fatcats need to be given a lecture on accounting and humility and dramatically cut their own salaries and expenses in order to save at least a few of their hard working staff.
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