Senior University Lecturer salary - shocked!

[salary]

I've just seen an advert for the above position, at a nearby Uni. The salary is anywhere between £39k and £64k, based on whether it is filled by a grade 7, 8 or 9 person.

I am genuinely shocked at how low this salary is, for such a high profile role. Do they get huge bonuses or something?

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.

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.

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

Many years ago we used to hire trainee lab techs straight out of school. They were usually the ones that didn't get the grades for uni. They'd work in the lab, got to day release for their ONC and then their HNC. Some would go on to get professional qualifications (GRIPhys, GRIChem etc). Uni didn't suit everyone and they gained a lot of practical experience.

MN is daily proof of that.

No I don't think I know of any! In my field Oxford and Cambridge don't offer the best courses.

I'm used to my kids renting in Dublin where prices are outrageous. Which makes a small double apartment at his former college at £1500 seem not too bad! Excluding bills and council tax.
But buying a house in Cambridge is impossible for staff in their thirties from what I have heard. They have long commutes, which I realise a lot of people do.
Hopefully someone with more up to date knowledge can advise on housing in Oxbridge!

In my field Oxford and Cambridge don't offer the best courses.

They don't even offer my subject!!

In my field and my uni - most of the new people we employ on permanent contracts (and those who are British) have been either to Oxbridge or at least a top London uni (LSE, Imperial or UCL). In fact, at some point it became almost a joke (which obviously some people did not find funny).

The point stands that many assume that money is due to being clever and hard working. Academia shows that this is indeed not true. You can be super clever and hard working and still get paid peanuts.

My MIL was one of those. She had the grades but came from a poor background in the 1950’s. She got her degree in her 30s and went into teaching.

Do you have research ethics committee approval for that though? And has it been through peer review? 🤔

Nope, my dad didn't but he said he wished he had. Although now he has his sights set on my extremely intelligent DD going and fulfilling that dream in a few years time lol 😆

I'd say half of my husbands colleagues have at least one degree from Oxford or Cambridge or LSE. Despite not being in the UK.
My 3 kids each have an undergrad degree and a masters. None are in subjects studied in Oxbridge. Two of them have a bit of third level teaching experience. None of them would like a PhD and academic job!

This. DH has more money now he's retired and paid off the mortgage.

A vast number of the more successful academics I work with in the US have several companies to their name, making/using the stuff that they made their research career on. Seems to be less common in the UK.

Yep because the IP is owned by the university not the individual researchers.

Yes I only just resisted mentioning that horrendous Gove quote because I often bring it up. What a disgusting, sneering, over privileged, populist thing to say. Doesn’t do my blood pressure any good thinking about that attitude and its consequences for government and people.

Apparently often worse. Because the reputation allows them not to pay well.

Aaah. So zero chance of buying a house in Oxford or Cambridge, then.

And yet it is the university research done by underpaid, highly expert academics, and the spin offs from that research, which make Oxford and Cambridge desirable places to live and thus expensive. So that those highly expert researchers can’t afford to live there.

Gosh, we are a sensible rational country.

Not with these prices.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/153109859

The pay isn’t even the big scandal - it’s the years of insecurity before you might get a long-term job. The proportion of people who are teaching students but are on insecure short contracts is growing all the time.

Oxford has had a lot of criticism lately:

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/feb/21/academics-win-claim-against-oxford-university-over-sham-contracts

It is in the US as well, the companies sign license agreements with the universities.

I know a few similar situations in the UK, it just seems to be less common.

Eek! It's a lovely house for a 2 bed terrace but you'd need a London corporate-type salary to have a hope of getting a big enough mortgage to buy it.,

There’s a lot of money in the Science Park, that’s what’s fuelling the insane property prices.