‘Cash-strapped’ Scottish university boss claims over £37k in trip expenses - including on Barbados visit
Vice-chancellor Professor James Miller has claimed almost £40,000 on visiting destinations including Barbados and Kuala Lumpur.
The vice-chancellor of a Scottish university where staff face job losses has claimed thousands in expenses on overseas trips, it has been revealed.
Professor James Miller, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), has claimed £37,429 in travel expenses in the past two years, the Sunday Mail has reported.
A total of £5,970 was claimed on a trip to Barbados in the West Indies. Other destinations visited by the university boss included Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and South Africa.
Details of the expenses have emerged at a time when staff at the university are balloting for strike action due to possible job loss. The university reported a £14.4 million deficit in 2023/24.
Prof Miller, whose salary is £288,000 a year, is among 12 senior staff at the UWS who have claimed more than £163,000 in expenses in two years.
A spokesperson for the UWS said: “Like all universities, growing our income through onshore international student recruitment and global transnational education is essential to the financial sustainability of the university and necessitates travel, the cost of which is more than offset, by orders of magnitude, through the income secured – income that funds several hundred jobs.”
The university did not confirm whether Prof Miller had flown first class, business or economy for the trips.
The scale of the expenses bill has been criticised by politicians, with Scottish Labour education spokesperson Pam Duncan-Glancy saying: “At a time when university finances are stretched to breaking point and jobs are at risk, it is vital that every penny is being spent wisely.
“Right across Scotland, universities are facing financial challenges, but the SNP is stuck defending a broken status quo.
“Scottish Labour is working with the sector to develop a new funding model that will provide young Scots with opportunities and allow our world-class universities to thrive.”
Scottish Conservative shadow cabinet secretary for education and skills Miles Briggs added: “Eyebrows will be raised at this spending on overseas trips while the university faces cuts.
“But the entire further education sector is under pressure for every penny thanks to the SNP Government’s failure to produce a realistic funding model.”
Industrial action has become a trend at universities across the country outside of just the UWS. Hundreds of staff at the University of Strathcylde went on strike in March in defence of their pensions.
The Unite members at the University of Strathclyde said the industrial action was in response to the intensification in the pension dispute following last-minute attempts by the higher education institution to row-back on its initial proposals.
Last month lecturing staff at Robert Gordon University launched strike action amid a dispute over job cuts.
And a march and rally was held by union Unite last month on behalf of staff striking at Dundee University over hundreds of planned job cuts.
The number of jobs to be cut at Dundee University has dropped by half as part of a revised recovery plan to deal with a £35 million deficit. But “up to 300” full-time equivalent position are still expected to be lost through a voluntary redundancy scheme.
Edinburgh University is meanwhile looking to make £140m of cuts over the next 18 months, with 350 staff already believed to have taken voluntary redundancy. The institution’s principal Sir Peter Mathieson last month said he could not rule out compulsory redundancies.
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