University of Bolton's bentley-driving vice chancellor pockets £66k pay rise

'This will do nothing to combat the idea that vice-chancellors are utterly out of touch'

His pay packet emerged on the same day that a code designed to tackle excessive pay of university bosses was released (PA)

A Bentley-driving vice-chancellor who has defended high salaries of university leaders, was given a £66,000 pay rise in the last academic year, the latest figures show.

George Holmes was paid £290,215 in 2016/17 as head of University of Bolton, up from £224,300 the year before and a rise of nearly 30 per cent, according to the Times Higher Education.

His pay packet emerged on the same day that a code designed to tackle excessive pay of university bosses was deemed to be “woefully inadequate” by the University and College Union (UCU).

Professor Holmes, who drives a Bentley Continental and owns a yacht moored on Lake Windermere, has previously said that vice-chancellors with high salaries should not hide their wealth.

He told the Financial Times in August that he hoped "students use their education to get a good job and then they can have a Bentley”.

Professor Holmes added: “Do you want to be taught by someone who is successful or a failure?”

The university boss also made headlines in January when it emerged that he had attended the controversial all-male Presidents’ Club charity dinner where female staff were sexually harassed.

Professor Holmes issued a statement saying that he had felt “uncomfortable” during the night.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the UCU, said that Professor Holmes had “made the headlines again this year, but not in the manner one would expect to then be rewarded so handsomely for”.

She said: “The Bolton vice-chancellor has been rightly criticised previously for his embarrassing lack of self-awareness when it comes to his pay, and accepting this huge increase will do nothing to combat the idea that vice-chancellors are utterly out of touch.”

The university said his pay – which includes his salary and benefits - had increased after an “assessment of his performance during the prior 12-month period” by the remuneration committee.

Universities will have to publicly justify their bosses’ salaries – of which the average is more than £255,000 - under a new remuneration code from the Committee of University Chairs (CUC).

Vice-chancellors must not be members of their university’s remuneration bodies, the new Higher Education Senior Staff Remuneration Code, which was released today, says.