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?

It really isn't 😂

I know someone in this role, and I have to say, I always assumed she was earning about £100k. This actually explains why she sometimes says she can't afford things!!

Doesn't it really depend on what your expertise is? Being the worlds expert in Romeo and Juliet act 2 scene 2 is going to be paid less than being the worlds expert in making gold out of paper.

I'm really sorry that happened to you.

Regarding his working hours, that wouldn't happen now. I mean, we don't teach 6 hours a day 5 days week, but there is so much more to an academic job besides teaching. Most staff at universities are overworked as opposed to underworked.

Uni lecturer here grade 9, PL.

Yes, those salary rates are correct. PhD, 30 plus years of research publications, research grants etc, head of department. I’m on slightly over £64k as HoD.

I would not advise anyone to aim for a career in HE.

University salaries are set on the same bands across departments. Your paper to gold specialist is likely to be making extra money consulting and may be able to progress faster and higher through getting lots of funding for their research.

@Hatty65 - same with A-level teaching! It’s the sweet spot IMO - interesting content to teach, satisfying amount of research etc to do off your own back and nice students on the whole. I can’t see what university lecturing would add to this really.

Nope! salary scales are pretty standard across universities in the UK. it doesn't matter what subject area you work in. There are some on the spot salaries for very high profile professors but they're rare.

The only people who might be earning close to £100k would be Deans and Pro-vice Chancellors are likely to earn more. Not your Senior Lecturers!

A SL with no leadership responsibility will be on about £55k

This was 2 years ago. Yes he had other responsibilities, however this individual did not engage. He had to attend meetings (attended via teams with camera off), 1:1s with students with 10 students for 10 minutes once a term. A few other admin type flasks (only a couple of hours of work a week). He had been there so long he got away with blue murder, oh and ten years of sexually abusing young girls...

Perhaps he isn't the best person to use as an example. I know of lecturers who have fully engaged with additional responsibilities, from open days, to mentor schemes etc etc.

I do think the job comes with a great deal of flexibility.

Also especially when teaching undergrads, the level of expertise required really isn't that high. Their phD often is in a field completely unrelated. If they were working in a very niche area I would understand, but teaching a 101 economics course, introduction to philosophy, or French grammar isn't exactly 'niche'.

Mind blown.

I've seen your other posts, I'm so sorry for what happened to you. I think you've shown great courage.

However, teaching is just part of his job (typically 40% time allocation).

Yep, that's about the size of it.

Different unis have slightly different pay scales (based, weirdly, on the cost of living in around 1992 when the national pay scales was implemented). But there's not all that much difference between them, with a few exceptions. Imperial College London isn't on the national pay scale, so has a few very high salaries!

I will say, that the pay goes a lot further in areas like the NE (where I live and work). Colleagues in some areas of the south have it hard, especially teaching staff who have to move every year and often get paid around £30k, no expenses, no bonuses. Other unis pay teaching staff and hourly rate, which is even worse. These are in some cases the majority of the staff that teach the undergraduates.

But yep. Wages for academics are much higher in Ireland, and astronomically higher in Australia (as in, a postdoc in Australia would earn more than some UK professors).

In the north east, in a permanent post, it is a good wage. But not everywhere by any means.

No - no bonuses, ridiculous workload, stupid amounts of admin, and my DH currently has non-academics making him and his colleagues change the way they teach/mark every blooming year. He's lucky that he absolutely loves his subject and his students think the world of him, because it's a thankless job a lot of the time and he's so stressed and exhausted.

Also, a lot of academics are stuck and can't get promotion (despite qualifying) because the institutions they are in invent crises which mean that they have (conveniently) to halt all internal progression. So someone might do all the things a professor does and yet be a lowly lecturer.

I assumed lecturers got paid well because they always seem to be really well dressed! Now I feel very silly.

I get £50 per hour to lecture in art.

Ok, the lecturers in your world clearly dress differently to the lecturers in mine.

(I'm a terribly dressed academic.)

@ttcat37 This made me smile! I feel we're quite a scruffy lot, really.

I remember one of my neuroscience lecturers in particular. He was like a walking encyclopedia of neuroscience knowledge. Long career as a neuroscientist before lecturing and you'd leave his lectures with half a notebook filled easily, after 3 hours with additional information not provided on the pre printed pages and could answer any question you had, in depth, without even thinking. I was shocked when I found out his salary was under 60k.

@BarbaraHoward Thank you. He was a bad person all round, he did anything to avoid doing work. So, on reflection, not a good person to use as an example.
I realise that there is a lot more to being a lecturer than teaching. Like I said, I knew some who deserved twice the salary theory received due to the work and effort they put into their students.

To some extent, I think a job that has so much flexibility is really what you make It. For those with integrity who care about their students and work, yes they almost certainly will be over worked! But for those looking for an easy life, it's a great role to be in.

Surely you know some fields pay more then others

It makes you wonder doesn't it? I was thinking the other day how much my window cleaner must earn, and it's a lot, for what is essentially a non skilled job, with minimal overheads.

It's even worse in FE.