Imperial College London head Alice Gast tops universities pay league with £554,000

Alice Gast’s full salary package was cut by £21,000 last year but she still tops the pay league
Alice Gast’s full salary package was cut by £21,000 last year but she still tops the pay league

The UK’s best-paid university vice-chancellor is now earning £554,000.

Alice Gast, president of Imperial College London, now tops the pay table, even though her full salary package was cut by £21,000 last year.

Second among big university earners was Dame Minouche Shafik, head of the London School of Economics, who is on £491,000, with Stephen Toope at Cambridge third on £475,000.

The figures come from an analysis by The Tab student newspaper, which found that 60 per cent of university chiefs saw their pay increase in the 2018-19 academic year with the average package now £350,000.

However, with the sector in the spotlight for its pay, universities are taking the opportunity to cut salaries when new vice-chancellors are appointed. Those at Bath and Southampton saw