UNIVERSITY vice-chancellors’ average £340,000-a-year pay is a “scandal” and should be capped when low-paid higher education workers face job losses, GMB’s annual congress heard yesterday.

Delegate Alex Hitter said: “Universities across the country are facing financial challenges with almost all instituting budget restraint in some form or other, with some taking more drastic action like cutting courses and jobs.

“High pay for vice-chancellors is always justified, as it is in any industry, with the assertion it will attract top talent.

“At the university I work at the vice-chancellor’s pay between 2022 and 2023 rose from 680 per cent to 740 per cent of the average salary.”

GMB higher education national representative Sandi Vennell said that a 1.4 per cent national pay offer was “an insult.

“We have got so far behind in pay over the years, what do we do to catch up?” she asked.