12 May 2017
J James
By email:
mailto:[FYI request #5712 email]
Dear J James
OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT REQUEST 17.15 – VICE CHANCELLOR’S SALARY AND
GIFTS
I refer to your email dated Tuesday 11 April, where you requested:
1.
In the last financial year, how much did the Vice-Chancelor earn?
UC can only provide information on what it pays the Vice Chancel or, and this information is
made public via the State Services Commission. It can be found here:
https://www.ssc.govt.nz/sites/all/files/senior-pay-report-2016.pdf. The Vice Chancellor was in
the $650,000 - $659,999 band. This included back pay for an earlier period.
It is well documented that UC’s current Vice Chancellor has been leading the University through
an unprecedented post-quakes period of challenge and change and that he is very well qualified
and experienced to do so. Those chal enges include:
• Managing the University through post-earthquakes building remediation and
transformation which saw the University for a considerable period spending
$2million a week across more than 12 building sites, and substantially advancing a
$1.2 billion capital works programme.
• Securing Government support of up to $260 million for key projects.
• A then New Zealand record insurance settlement of $550 million and leading a post
settlement review to allocate that funding against University strategic priorities.
• A return to near pre-quake student numbers in 2016, and on a trajectory agreed
with the TEC to recover student numbers to pre-quake levels.
• Continuing to provide world class, research lead teaching and learning while those
changes occurred – the University’s QS ranking increased to a high of 211 in 2015
and remained within margin of error at 214 in 2016, still within the top 3% of the
world’s universities
Mindful of those chal enges and the progress made, in 2015 the Vice-Chancellor Employment
Committee (a sub-committee of the University Council) wrote to the State Services Commission
regarding the job-sizing, noting the additional work created by the post-earthquakes chal enges
the University was facing, and the banding was adjusted temporarily accordingly, as per the
above report.
2.
What perks did they receive because of their capacity as Vice-Chancellor? E.G. free flights, tickets
to events, and other significant gifts to their person.
Attached is the UC Gift Policy which applies to gifts to University Staff. The Vice Chancellor
received no significant gifts as defined by this policy.
Yours faithfully
Tom Norcliffe
Associate Registrar
Information and Records Manager