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?

Depends - but 40 hours most week and periods of time when there is much more and contracts are for all year.

Days off vary between institutions but usually around 30 including bank holidays slightly more than statuary min of 28 but he doesn't take them all.

I still have to tell family after 20 years he's working summer and Christmas and Easter -even if he he's not giving lectures at those times but there's marking, admin, meetings, conferences and research to do and they can actually be busier- as he's recently had a move up - no increase in pay - he now has to go in some weekends to do open days/offer days.

It's worse early years and new courses as lecture notes need writing from scratch rather than modifying and updating.

Only if your hobbies include writing grants that have a low chance of being funded and other admin.

No-one goes into academia for short hours or a high wage. In theory, it's almost a vocation - you do it for the love of the subject you're researching. In practice, a lot of time is spent on admin and jumping through hoops, especially if you're on a teaching/mixed contract rather than purely research.

No, for the amount of study involved, university lecturers are truely one of the lowest paid and yet they are one of the hardest jobs to get.

People want to do it. Lining up for it actually. Lots of people enjoy studying. As long as there are too many people trying to do it it will be underpaid.

I'm surprised to hear this - I'd have guessed they're paid less than equivalent seniors in the corporate world (if you can draw equivalencies) but would have expected the £60k-ish salary to be the low end of a scale up to perhaps £100k.

It's bloody brilliant! Also I teach both semesters and I'm secretary to our exam board so December and January are my busiest time of year so often end up doing a bit over Christmas if I can.

At Easter, everything just gets turned off.

Because they have to be more highly qualified - a PhD takes an extra 3-4 years over a teaching degree. They have to gain visibility in their area by publishing research and getting invited to present at conferences before they're likely to get a permanent job, which most of them do by taking one or more (badly paid) post doc contracts. It's rare to get a permanent post under 30 now, and as someone else said above, this means moving around the country past the point when most people would like to settle down. You need a wide range of skills and the ability to be self-motivated, there isn't a curriculum to follow in the way there is for teachers, you create your own courses.

My contract is 37 hours a week but I regularly between 45-50.
I get 37 days annual leave plus we close at Christmas so that's typically another 4-5 days. I always lose annual leave as I struggle to take it all and rarely use my 'rest days' after international travel.

On the flip side I know professors who get a set salary increase every year- not based on performance- and will continue to do so indefinitely. Anyone working for an actual business who asked for that would get laughed out of the room.

So glad I dissuaded my DS from doing a PhD as he wanted to be a lecturer!

grade 11 oxbridge professor here (so Reader in the old terminology) - I earn £68k.

Are school teachers expected to have a PhD? To publish regularly or to generate income?

It's not a comparable job.

No way would I now pursue a full-time salaried career in HE in the UK. The salaries are disgustingly low, especially if you're trying to raise a family and survive in an expensive city. Plus, there are no vacancies in my field. And those that do exist are being eradicated left, right, and centre. I have four degrees and a PGCE, and that's not far off the minimum tbh, so definitely not the same entry requirements as primary or secondary (those teachers also deserve way more for what they do as well).

I adjunct lecture for a U.S. institution in the UK, and that is by far the most lucrative opportunity I could've gotten at this stage of my career, if you take into account the investment of time. It's fairly secure too, compared to other adjunct opportunities and I do it to supplement my other job (also in education). I would never work on that basis for a UK university, where the workload is ridiculous and the pay is actually laughable. You would make more as a cleaner with a few regular clients.

I escaped the cycle of bullshit academic jobs: fractional contracts and PTHP. I hope this thread brings light to the issue and gives parents an insight into how shit universities are right now. Your kids will be taught by PhD students and temporary, part-time staff, many of them unable to meet the basic earning requirements for living in this country. Reality is, you have to go overseas to earn well in the field but getting a tenured post in the US, for example, is nigh on impossible. You’re basically waiting for someone to die.

I am surprised how low it is. Is this for full time hours?

I'm a bit confused by this thread. People asking why salaries are low - what jobs out there should. My kids be aiming for that pay more than this?

Genuinely the top end of that bracket 65k is incredible and the same as a senior leader in shcool deputy head/head of small school.

If you go into OT/Social work/etc you're not going to be looking at 65k.

What are these jobs people should be going into if they want to aim at more thann65k? (or even more than 50k?)

Preumably law and being a dr. But isn't the average wage like 30k so this is way above average.

I have 2 degrees and a postgrad qual but genuinely looking at jobs in 24-35 Mark.

I have kids looking at careers but so often feel mumsnet is another world for this highly paid careers as I have no idea how people access them.

Until you reach the top of your salary scale and then you get zilch. There are 5 incremental points on my scale so I've had around a £1500 pay rise for the last 4 years. I'm at the top of the scale now so the only way to get a rise is to be promoted. But there aren't any promotional opportunities.

Haha! Yes it's crap isnt it!!

I'm a practitioner and used to work half time in my clinical role and half time in my university role. My practitioner role paid at least 30k more (FTE) than my academic role.

I love lecturing, but because I was a practitioner, I'd never really have had time or resource to publish enough to get to the higher salary range of an academic.

So ... v sadly I left my lecturing to go full time in my practitioner role.

I think academics can be a bit snobby (sorry, I know not all!!) about practitioner's and assume they, as academics, are smarter/better than practitioners, so justify keeping them on a lower pay grade.

However, practioners and those working in the field have a lot to teach undergrads and post grads and could b a valuable resource if universities could b more flexible and allow experience in the field to be considered when establishing lecturer pay grade (instead of judging pay grade solely on publication volume)

It's a huge problem. I constantly watch talented, early-career scientists leave academia due to the lack of security, and the bullying from group leaders. And that's before you even take the money into account. Most research centres in the UK really struggle to find good, mid-career scientists as well, because they could all earn double in US or European institutes. UK science is going to be in trouble in the 5 or 10 years.

Yes. In reality more than the contracted hours too!

There was some flexibility regarding hours in university holidays (so not the school half terms but the main holidays) helpful with the dc when they were little. Generous holidays allowance plus extra closed days.

Some can earn extra from publications, working on government committees etc.

Lecturing is generally only a few hours a term, the rest is research (not paid any more for this)

Even the optometry thread - if you get to band 7 nhs it's 45k

What in earth is everyone on this thread doing if they think 50-60k is low paid???

DH in early 30s move to industry - and despite him expecting comparable pay it was actually a huge cut in pay. It gave us stability for kids schooling for a while - also longer days and longer commute as rural location not city as with previous uni jobs.

It pushed his career along - and got him permanent job - so worth doing but it did stop the all the I'd earn more in industry - though I image it's very industry and level dependent.

Autumnweddingguest

Why on earth would you want to stop your ds going for academia? If your son has a love for it- it mightn’t be the best pay in the world but it’s hardly minimum wage and it’s something people thrive in and do for the love of research etc.

Full time salary for my lecturing job with subject lead is £34k. The students often earn more than we do if they are in good jobs and studying part time.