Senior University Lecturer salary - shocked!

Are lecturers' salaries any better in Oxford/Cambridge than a non-Oxbridge institution?

Only 3 of the 50+ scientists I know went to Oxbridge - 1 undergrad, 1 PhD, 1 postdoc. All 3 left academia - 2 after PhDs and the third after postdocs.

The UK is the only country one could imagine having a phrase such as "too clever by half" to deploy as an insult.

And let's not forget Michael Gove's declaration that the public has had enough of experts.

I think there’s a generally anti intellectual culture in the UK compared to other European countries. Yet we don’t have a strong apprenticeship and vocational training culture either. Its confusing.

This is so true.

Most academics went to Oxbidge

Not true! Most academics most definitely did not go to Oxbridge.

I don’t think most academics went to Oxbridge!

many employers still insist that a lot of our young people must have a first degree.

They wouldn’t be able to if there wasn’t a glut of graduates.

I think the golden era for academia has definitely passed...

I think there’s a generally anti intellectual culture in the UK compared to other European countries. Yet we don’t have a strong apprenticeship and vocational training culture either. Its confusing.

We don’t seem to value people having higher education here unless it’s narrowly vocational. I thought the Blair vision was a bigger educated workforce (which would need to include arts and humanities). Instead we seem to have an expensive higher education arms race for law, medicine and STEM, stagnant or falling conditions for university staff and students overall, and numbers of students going into non-vocational areas completely falling off a cliff.
The student debt situation directly affects housing choices, pension savings and postpones having kids, yet many employers still insist that a lot of our young people must have a first degree.

As an SL the top of my band is around 54k

@Appletreepots
I know the system dictates salaries. However, academics is one of those professions where the argument of effort and ability dictates salary. Most academics went to Oxbidge at some point, work 60hour week but still only get 60k. It's also very different depending on the cultural context - Europe and the US pay very well. So it's something about the UK that is unusual i.e. capitalism with a sprinkling of cultural context.

More ethical roles such as teaching tend to be lower paid than more capitalism-focused jobs, so that's to be expected, although arguably it should be the other way round.

I think the crazy thing about the job is that for the education people get, it's so badly paid. Most academics I know have studied at a top top uni, their peers in law, consulting, banking, IT assume that they get to 100k no problems. Yes; top top profs can be on over 100k but anyone in law, consulting and banking will be on that.

I have a BA, MA, PhD and PGCE. I also have over 25 years of lecturing experience. I am a senior lecturer and earn around £47k. I have published books and journal papers. We get 49 days or so of annual leave a year but it's really hard to fit this in, teach, do the admin and research. Most of my colleagues can't use up their annual leave in actuality due to workloads and pressures. The senior management at our university (north east) have become brutal. They are making senior lecturers redundant as they think there are too many and that they are too expensive ... wtf? They used to market themselves as a supportive institution - student and family-centred - but have hiked up car-parking fees by 300% recently for everyone (including for students and low paid support staff like cleaners, cafe assistants, etc). They have closed the on-site nursery. In sum, they have lost a huge amount of good will and loyalty from academic staff in their cultivation of an atmosphere of fear, stress and ridiculous workloads. It used to be a lovely place to work. I would never advise anyone to work for my employer now

My stbxh is an associate professor and he earns about 55k.
Lol that admin is where the money is I work as a senior manager in uni admin and earn 35k

An SL at the top of their band is likely earning somewhere in the 60 thousands, depending on the institution.

My dad earned £36k as a SL. He retired in the 1990s. It's astonishing that it doesn't seem to have increased.

He retired on a final salary pension and his pension takehome is more than I bring home as an experienced health care professional.

I think the golden era for academia has definitely passed...

I don't think you got my point. It's clearly not a race to the bottom as academia is a hugely popular and competitive career. Why is that? Well probably because many better or equivalent paid roles are actually harder and more unpleasant.

Most people reach lecturer by their mid 30s and stay in academia if they can. This is in contrast to medics, vets, dentists, teachers etc where there's a huge exodus after a few years.

So despite slightly worse pay it's clearly a much more attractive job.

Really? In the UK? Is he in a medical school?

This is in response to @Appletreepots (sorry forgot to quote).

My dad is a very well respected professor in his field (biological science/animal behaviour), and I think that this is rewarded by his salary. I'd love to be able to find a job that I was so passionate about as he is about his!

Bonuses???🤣🤣🤣

.Yes occasionally of course. But it's not comparable to working regular night shifts as a hospital doctor for example.

I don't think anyone is comparing it to being a hospital doctor though are they?

I love my job but working in HE is no bed of roses at the moment. It's a particularly challenging environment at the moment. That doesn't mean other professions don't have it tough, but it's not a race to the bottom is it?

Yes. I said the top level is 80-140k so that means some top tier profs are on 140. Some of the other top people are on more like 80k. Hence I gave a range of top level salaries from 80 to 140. That doesn't mean every top person is on 140k. Hope that's clearer

I can't remember if I wrote this earlier (I think I did), but my dad was a professor for one of the London Universities and I'm pretty sure he's well paid, along with an employer matched final salary pension. He's worked incredibly hard and done very well for himself. I think he's very fortunate to enjoy it all very much, and finds his research specialism really interesting.

I have to say that I'm also quite envious that he's spent years giving lectures on cruises and being paid well for it too... academia does have its perks if you're at the top of your game! 😎👍😂

Yes occasionally of course. But it's not comparable to working regular night shifts as a hospital doctor for example

You get paid a tax free stipend for a PhD, not loads but you can live on it and not incur debt. Post doc salaries start at about 30k plus the usual benefits such as big pension and maternity pay etc. This is for an RG university in the NW England. So it's not that bad financially. The short term contracts are the most annoying thing