Latest news with #MarkScott
The Australian
9 hours ago
- Business
- The Australian
Australia's highest-paid vice-chancellors' salaries and pay packets ranked
University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott. Jane Dempster/The Australian You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback. You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Mark Scott has a money problem and it is not finding the time to spend the $1.33m he was paid to be vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney last year. It's the perception that his pay packet encourages, and it is the same for university leaders across the country. As a class, V-Cs look opulent, out of touch and indifferent to public opinion. For institutions that still rely on public funding this is a big problem. Anthony Albanese is not about to 'Trump' the oldest and richest Australian universities, but if he did hit – like Harvard has been hit in the US – universities in Sydney and Melbourne would be light on for community support. Tasmanian senator Jacquie Lambie gets this. She introduced a bill in the previous parliament to cap V-C pay at the $435,000 the commonwealth Treasurer makes. There were 400-plus reader comments sent to The Australian on Natasha Bita's Friday coverage of the 10 NSW public universities' annual reports, and what V-Cs were paid kept coming up. Other V-Cs should be pleased Scott was top of the pay pops – his $150,000 pay rise is a sure-fire ire attractor. Not all had huge hikes. University of NSW V-C Attila Brungs made only $700 more on 2023, leaving him to subsist on $1.15m. But in 2024, every V-C in the state made more than the Prime Minister's $607,000 base pay. The University Chancellors Council ignores the comparison to Albanese's wage in its submission to the Senate committee that was considering Lambie's bill, instead offering unconvincing justifications for why the V-C pay packets they approve should not be capped. They argued, 'caps fail to account for university size and complexity'. But the way university councils set V-C pay do not either. Last year, Deborah Terry was paid $1.158m to run the huge and complex University of Queensland, which had $2.83bn in revenue. Up the road, Helen Bartlett received $935,000 to lead the University of the Sunshine Coast, a challenger brand with $435m in income. Plus, the chancellors claimed that setting ceilings on pay would discourage global top talent. The problem is Australia already pays a premium. The president of Harvard University had a total package of $US1.5m last year but will take a 25 per cent pay cut next month due to tough Trump times. According to the QS global university rankings, Harvard is consistently in the world's top-five institutions, while the University of Sydney was 61st this year. University of Queensland vice-chancellor Deborah Terry. Picture: John Gass/NCA NewsWire The chancellors add that they were already on to pay, working on remuneration codes, but they know the jig is up. 'We are committed to restoring public trust and engagement with our universities,' their submission states. It is so far lost that Education Minister Jason Clare has a committee working on improving university management, including executive pay. So lost that V-C income is now a proxy for community distrust of university leaderships. They could all collectively cut their pay by half and stay on the hook of public suspicion. There are five reasons it came to this. One is apparent management indifference to student welfare, especially for victims of sexual harassment and assault that attracted so much community attention that Clare set up a national ombudsman to assist victims when university managements apparently would not. It is not just students who need help. Last week the Australian National University released a scathing report on decades of nepotism, bullying and ill-treatment of staff as well as students. Another is the underpayment of staff at universities across the country, mainly, but not always due to incompetence. The Fair Work Ombudsman has intervened repeatedly, including in the courts, to ensure universities pay people correctly. It still has a matter involving the University of NSW, which mentions in its annual report a $78m provision for current employees that includes underpayments. A third is the apparent inability of some universities – notably the universities of Sydney and Melbourne – to protect Jewish students, indeed some staff, from harassment during Gaza protests last year. There is also the failure of universities to assure the community that they are not ignoring the interests of local students by enrolling enormous numbers of internationals. The University of Sydney earned $1.6bn in international student fees in 2024 – 40 per cent of total revenue. Last year, 46 per cent of University of Melbourne students were from overseas. Both of them, and many more universities, need to do a way better job at explaining the real benefits of international education for the country. At the height of the phony argument during the election that internationals were to blame for housing costs, university lobbies complained about the revenue they would lose from enrolment caps. Then there is the way we perceive universities. For decades, V-Cs pitched them as a national resource, but now they can appear as giant corporations, focused on their own, not community interests. V-Cs with huge pay packets and grand digs do not help. The University of Melbourne bought a $7.1m Parkville mansion that former V-C Duncan Maskell lived in (it is now for sale). One of the reasons Scott is noticed for his plutocratic pay is Maskell, the previous top earner, has left. The University of Melbourne does not name the staffer who received a total package worth between $1,575,000 and $1,589,999, which suggests embarrassment at the size of the pay packet. 'I don't strike many people who are horrified by success, whether it's in business or on the sporting field or in the arts,' said economist (and assistant Treasury Minister) Andrew Leigh recently on the Joe Walker policy podcast. 'But in terms of Australian egalitarianism, I think there is that notion that being successful doesn't cause us to put you up on a pedestal. We are a country that doesn't stand up when the Prime Minister enters the room.' We certainly don't give V-Cs standing ovations, and won't while universities don't protect their staff and students and appear aloof to the way they are seen in the community. Big pay packets, regardless of apparent performance, will ensure we stay seated. Certainly, universities publish key performance indicators, but they are generally aspirational. Scott is not going to get sacked if staff and student responses decline on his university's surveys of satisfaction. But if the V-Cs are serious about 'restoring public trust and engagement' this year could be the last of ever-increasing pay for V-Cs, and their senior staff. Clare's committee could firmly suggest V-Cs link pay to public key performance indicators that cover what universities are supposed to do for students. Scores at faculty level on the national satisfaction surveys, lower attrition rates, a major – strike that – huge investment in new courses and teaching technology, would be a start, and competitive information on smaller classes would be a winner. Leigh is right, Australians don't object to rewards for success but it has to be earned and seen to be.
India.com
16 hours ago
- Science
- India.com
What is over 1400 scientists from 35 nations searching in three tunnels 1.5 km below earth? Answer will leave you shocked
What is over 1400 scientists from 35 nations searching in three tunnels 1.5 km below earth? Answer will leave you shocked How was the universe formed and how did the stars, planets, and even we began to exist? To find answers to these big questions, two teams of scientists one in the US and the other in Japan are racing to uncover the secrets of the universe. According to a report by BBC, both teams are using a tiny particle called a neutrino to help them solve the mystery of how everything started. Right now, the Japanese team is a few years ahead, but the American scientists are catching up fast. Why does our universe exist at all? Deep inside a laboratory located above the misty forests of South Dakota, American scientists are trying to solve one of science's biggest puzzles i.e. why does the universe even exist? Meanwhile, their Japanese counterparts are also working toward the same goal and are currently leading the race. Despite all our technological advancements, we still don't fully understand how the universe came into being or why galaxies, stars, and planets and even life itself exist. To get closer to an answer, both the American and Japanese teams are building advanced detectors designed to study neutrinos, a strange and tiny subatomic particle that might hold the key to how everything started. America's DUNE Project In South Dakota, at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), scientists have built three huge tunnels about 1,500 meters below the ground. These tunnels are so important for research that people call them a 'cathedral of science.' Here, a massive experiment called the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is taking place. More than 1,400 scientists from 35 countries are working together on this project. Dr. Jaret Heise, the director of the project, says that they're building a special detector that could completely change how we understand the universe. As part of the experiment, scientists will send powerful beams of neutrinos and antineutrinos from Illinois to South Dakota, about 800 miles away. They want to observe whether these tiny particles behave differently during their journey. If neutrinos and antineutrinos change in different ways, it might help explain one of the biggest mysteries in science: Why did matter win over antimatter after the Big Bang? Understanding this could explain why the universe—and life as we know it—exists at all. Japan's Hyper-K Project In Japan, scientists are building a new neutrino detector called Hyper-K, which is an upgraded version of their current detector, Super-K. This new setup looks like a glowing golden structure and is often described as a 'temple of science.' The Japanese team is nearly ready to launch their neutrino beam in less than three years, putting them several years ahead of the U.S.-based DUNE project. Dr. Mark Scott from Imperial College London says that because the Hyper-K detector is larger, it can collect data faster and with better accuracy. Who will win the race? Dr. Linda Cremonesi from Queen Mary University, who works on the DUNE project, believes that Japan's Hyper-K still lacks some of the technology needed to clearly detect the differences in behavior between neutrinos and antineutrinos. While both projects aim to uncover similar mysteries, having them run side by side will actually provide more detailed information. But Dr. Scott admits, 'I'd rather be the one to get the results first!' The final answers might still take a few years, but until then, the question of why and how we exist remains one of the universe's biggest puzzles. This scientific race is a major leap toward unlocking the secrets of our cosmos.
The Age
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
‘Lecture-bashing' ban among new rules for Sydney University students
University of Sydney academics have been banned from allowing students to make non-course-related announcements at the start of a lecture, under new rules the institution says balance campus safety and academic freedom. It comes after the university spent $441,789 on an external review to combat antisemitism in the 18 months following Hamas' October 7 attacks and complaints from Jewish students that they did not feel safe at the institution. Vice Chancellor Mark Scott said the move was one of five new revised policies that articulated what was and was not acceptable, designed so everyone 'feels safe to be themselves no matter their religion, gender, sexuality, race or ability'. 'In a world of increased conflict and polarisation, that can be challenging. But over the past year, we've done some significant work across the university to ensure our campus is a place where everyone can thrive,' he said in an email on Monday afternoon. 'These policies balance our commitments to campus safety with those to academic freedom and freedom of speech and set clear standards for what is and isn't acceptable.' For decades, students at Sydney University have engaged in the practice of 'lecture bashing', whereby lecturers permit students to make political statements about non-course-related material. Student representative council president Angus Fisher said the new rules are an extremely disappointing step because they impinge on the university's long history of political debate. 'In a context where external alt-right anti-abortion representatives come to campus weekly to harass students, it is unclear to me how a ban on lecture announcements results in anything less than stifling free speech and debate,' he said.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Lecture-bashing' ban among new rules for Sydney University students
University of Sydney academics have been banned from allowing students to make non-course-related announcements at the start of a lecture, under new rules the institution says balance campus safety and academic freedom. It comes after the university spent $441,789 on an external review to combat antisemitism in the 18 months following Hamas' October 7 attacks and complaints from Jewish students that they did not feel safe at the institution. Vice Chancellor Mark Scott said the move was one of five new revised policies that articulated what was and was not acceptable, designed so everyone 'feels safe to be themselves no matter their religion, gender, sexuality, race or ability'. 'In a world of increased conflict and polarisation, that can be challenging. But over the past year, we've done some significant work across the university to ensure our campus is a place where everyone can thrive,' he said in an email on Monday afternoon. 'These policies balance our commitments to campus safety with those to academic freedom and freedom of speech and set clear standards for what is and isn't acceptable.' For decades, students at Sydney University have engaged in the practice of 'lecture bashing', whereby lecturers permit students to make political statements about non-course-related material. Student representative council president Angus Fisher said the new rules are an extremely disappointing step because they impinge on the university's long history of political debate. 'In a context where external alt-right anti-abortion representatives come to campus weekly to harass students, it is unclear to me how a ban on lecture announcements results in anything less than stifling free speech and debate,' he said.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Sydney Uni made half a billion dollars last year. Others are in deficit
The University of Sydney recorded a surplus of more than $500 million last year, while smaller institutions around the state lost money as they struggled to attract domestic students. Strong investment returns, philanthropy and international student revenue helped deliver Sydney University's $545 million surplus. International students now make up 47 per cent of all undergraduates, according to the university's annual report, tabled in state parliament on Friday. A narrow majority of vice chancellors running the state's universities were paid $1 million or more a year, annual reports show, including at Sydney University, where vice chancellor Mark Scott's remuneration increased by about $150,000 to $1.3 million. The pay bump brings him into line with what his predecessor Michael Spence was paid. Scott told staff that the university's core activities of teaching and research recorded a loss, and the 2024 underlying operating result was a deficit of $69 million. He described the overall result as 'strong' in an uncertain year. 'Philanthropic funding, which often comes with restrictions on how it can be spent, and an exceptional 15 per cent return on our investments drove this headline result,' he said. The University of NSW pocketed a surplus of just over $200 million this year, thanks to better-than-expected international and domestic student enrolments, which a spokeswoman said was driven by the prestige associated with its high scores in international league tables. 'UNSW has seen unprecedented demand over the past couple of years, driven by our rise to 19th in the 2024 and 2025 QS World University Rankings, a concerted post-pandemic international recruitment rebuild strategy, and recent policy shifts in the UK and Canada,' a spokeswoman said. 'The global top 20 position reflects our strong academic offerings and growing reputation.'
