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?

Academics in other countries earn significantly more than in the UK

The problem is that now most universities have added additional intakes which mean you teach all year round. Those long university holidays and a dedicated 'quiet' time are are thing of the past at my institution. January and May intakes mean I teach all summer alongside using that time to run income generating activities.

Yeah, 20 years ago I used to get around £30 per hour as a teaching fellow on a temporary contract, but was just per lecturing/seminar contact hour. I also had to write the weekly lecture and do the seminar prep and any essay or exam marking, plus office hours - essentially this was unpaid work. When it was averaged out, I was on less than minimum wage (which is one of the many reasons I left academia).

The average academic also spends several years working precariously, on temporary 9-months contracts (ie term-time only, no job over the summer), often trying to piece together a living wage from additional university work. One year I was earning a little bit teaching for one university, a little bit teaching at another university, a little bit as a part-time Widening Participation officer, a little bit as an exams invigilator, and little bit working in the faculty office one day a week - altogether it amounted to about £12k that year, and I had no time, energy or headspace to do much research - and you HAVE to be publishing your research or you'll never get a full-time permanent contract. It's not conducive to having a successful relationship and it's awful if you have/want kids. You need to really love your subject AND be very lucky to stay in academia, and preferably have a well-paid spouse/parents who'll support you in the early years.

Generally, higher qualifications expected, longer hours and much shorter holidays.

Bonuses??? Lol. DP is a senior lecturer (grade 9, so better paid), he has 20 years experience, well published, works with National teams, works evening and weekends, supervises multiple PhD students, teaches undergrad at least 16 hours a week, niche area, undertakes research, internationally known for his work.

Pay is most definitely lower in public sector. But he loves his job.

Bonuses! Sorry, excuse me while I stop laughing... I've brought in >£1.5M in competitively awarded grant income in the last 3 years and haven't gained a single extra penny in salary. My brother (who works in finance in the City) would resign from his job the next day if he didn't receive an annual bonus equivalent to at least his salary again (already well north of 6 figures).

Let me give you an example of how internationally competitive our senior salaries are. We (Russell group, sciences) aggresively courted a US Prof from a fairly middle-ranking institution. Flew him and family here, wined and dined them, tours of departments and facilities, prestigious invited departmental seminar, etc. The salary offer we made, which was high among the discretionary points at the top of the professorial payscale, turned out to be less than a third what he was earning in the US. Do you think he uprooted his life and family to come here?

My partner and I are on about the same. I work in research science in a company and only do 4 days. Working 9-5, protected lunch break, workload adjusted to my hours and a permanent contract. My partner works for a university currently as a research scientist with some teaching. Works 7.30 til 5 then often another 2h in the evening, has emails and admin to catch up on at the weekend. Lunch breaks aren't protected, if he went to 4 days a week his workload wouldn't be adjusted. He's still on short term contracts having to fight for a permanent contract. He's on a 3y contract at the minute and they may make him permanent at the end of that. Current dept heads are supportive of it but every 18 months theres a restructuring of who manages the institutes and depts so when the time comes it's likely to be a different scheme with different people in control of the purse strings.
He's a neuroscientist and has received a lot of external funding to do his work, has published his work and spends a lot of time trying to justify his existence and in fear of not having a job because of the higher education funding crisis. It's not a job you do for the money or the lifestyle!

Pay is most definitely lower in public sector. But he loves his job.

Universities are not public sector.

Primary / secondary teacher training is, what, 4 years? A regular degree + 1 year PGCE? University lecturer requires at least another 3-4 years of training on top of that to get a PhD.

In addition to specialist knowledge & training, there are also additional responsibilities for managing budgets, research teams, and bringing in funding that school teachers don't tend to have unless they take on additional responsibilities such as departmental head.

So, no, academics do not get super long summer holidays, as many assume

People often assume the lecturers work to the undergrad terms. They don't.

The period between Christmas term and spring term is a holiday for undergrads; for lecturers it's for marking the 1st semester exams. In summer the undergrads swan of home after exams in June - which the lecturers then mark, while still teaching the MA students because their courses are 10 months so don't finish until around August. After which there are MA exams to mark. PhDs go on all year round. Then September is prepping for the next year - working out which modules you're teaching, refreshing the relevant lectures and seminars or writing from scratch for new ones, and reading lists, dealing with queries from incoming students, explaining to admin staff why timetables and room allocations don't work, dealing with exam boards and appeals from last year's exams, open days for the folowing year's applications, welcome days for this year, possible extra training for whatever their 'additional duties' are for the year ahead. Lecturers are already exhausted and needing a holiday by the time the undergrads turn up at the end of September.

It’s just regurgitating information you already know - why would it be higher?

Those long university holidays and a dedicated 'quiet' time are are thing of the past at my institution

I can't say I've noticed Dh having any quite times - it's supper busy and busy but he enjoys it. He does rile against 2 year degrees with some success he spoke with people working for industry bodies at events who been publicly supporting them and got others to do same about why they just won't work and they've gone quiet. I think there can be a lot of ignorance about work that goes on behind the scenes when they aren't stood up lecturing.

it's not.
HTH

Your kids' teachers must love you.

If you're referring to staff at UK universities, i'm sorry but that is just plain wrong. There are annual salary increments within pay bands, but typically no more than 4-5 and often for pretty small amounts (<£1000 per year) and once you're at the top of the band you will not get any more without being promoted, which can be extremely difficult. Professorial salaries are subject to rebanding, meaning salaries can go either up or down (or stay the same), based on performance.

It is low paid for what they do and the level of education required. The lack of job security, politics and dealing with students who are increasingly entitled. No bonuses either unlike the private sector. My son is 27 and earns 45k doing a tech based role-his salary will only get better. You earn much more in industry than you do in academia.

That's the point I was making.

We work all year round and certainly don't get the student holidays! I have a January and May intake for my programme so teaching takes place over the summer for those students.

Unis are government funded, with ability to bring in extra income. In UK they are public sector (apart from a small number of private institutions)

It’s a lecturer role, not an active teaching role. DH has worked in education for most of his career and earns considerably less than the baseline for the senior lecturer role, and he definitely spends all day putting out fires.

If they were government funded they wouldn’t need to charge the students fees.

The Guardian had an article some years ago that many are on zero-hour contracts and some had become homeless living in their car or a tent. Hadn't Labour said they would abolish zero-hour contracts (which they introduced) or am I mistaken? I don't think they are going to!

I’m got 5 A levels and earn £72k plus bonuses. I presume people become academics out of passion. I couldn’t be more dispassionate about my job but have always seen it as a means to an end.

Students don't get charged full cost of degree - in Scotland they get fees paid by Gov.

My husband left academia for this reason, even though he could have had a promising academic career. He now teaches and earns more (around £40k) than he ever did as an academic-and that’s without being SLT or anything like that. Also, as he’s so highly qualified-his background is in physics-, his school know that they’re lucky to have him and so are happy to support him in doing other qualifications and buying him extra equipment.