Are university bosses really earning their six-figure salaries?

Analysis: As the row over vice-chancellors’ pay continues, Eleanor Busby looks at the arguments for and against their high pay

Students are paying up to £9,250 a year on tuition fees (PA)

Rows over pay for university bosses have been rumbling on for some time, but the strength of feeling among students and academics has not died down. They say the salaries are excessive and must be cut.

Thousands have demanded change but the University of Southampton’s vice-chancellor, Sir Christopher Snowden, has held on to his sizeable salary of £423,000 – making him one of Britain’s highest-paid university leaders.

Why is the anger still so strong? Students, who are paying up to £9,250 a year on tuition fees, and academics, who recently took strike action against university bosses over cuts to their pensions, do not feel the high salaries are fair in the current climate.