Students call for pay cuts for top earners at Cardiff University

Martin Shipton

Students at Cardiff University have called on its top earners to take a reduction in pay after it was revealed that despite a swingeing cuts programme the number of staff earning more than £100k had risen to 185.

Addressing the Student Senate, student senator James Scott said: “The total pay of the 185 increased by 8.4%, and the top pay band for employees other than the Vice Chancellor increased from £225-230,000 to £240,000 to £245,000, while the Vice Chancellor’s remuneration was once again well over £300,000.

“Since 2020-21, the total pay of staff on over £100,00 has increased by 32.5%, 2.4 times higher than the total staff costs increase of just 13.7%. The total number of staff on over £100,000 has increased by a quarter, 5.3 times more than the total full-time employees equivalent headcount increase of just 4.7%. The total cost of those remunerated over £100,000 in 2024-25 was between £24.9m and £25.9m, meaning their total cost was between £28m and £29.3m. The 12 members of the University Executive Board received a combined total of £3m.

“Meanwhile, over the past year, student to staff ratios have increased dramatically, courses have been put on teach out, optional modules have disappeared along with the lecturers teaching them, the numbers of staff on core modules has been cut and so has the support given to students, departments are being merged, entry tariffs are being raised, over 170 academics have lost their jobs, workloads for lecturers have spiralled out of control, research has been put on hold, and the University and College Union has reported the university to the Health and Safety Executive after some staff considered abortion and suicide.

“This will inevitably have an impact on current students, but also on the university’s recruitment and therefore be partially self-defeating. It will also have consequences for the Welsh economy and language, as the participation rates of Welsh students going into university education is one fifth below the UK average, with the participation rate being 55% lower than in England for those in the lowest quintile, and half of Welsh medium students leaving Wales to go to university.”

Incremental pay cut

Mr Scott’s motion called for an incremental pay cut of between 15% and 25% for those earning over £100k per year, and an implementation of a 1:4 remuneration scale between the median earners and the highest earners at the university. He said these measures could save more than £5m per year if implemented in full, which would comfortably save all of the approximately 50 lecturers’ jobs the university still wishes to cut.

The motion also mandated the Sabbatical Officers to investigate ways of democratising the University Executive Board, the body which makes the university’s financial plans, so that it is accountable to students and staff.

The motion was passed with a 70% vote in favour by the Student Senate.

A further motion passed with 79% support called for the university to reveal who is funding its new campus in Kazakhstan and which industries they are involved in.

The motion stated: “Currently little is known about the new Kazakh business consortium behind the ‘Qualified Centre of Education Public Foundation’, who are funding the campus, other than it is a ‘very reputable’ group of leading Kazakhstani businesspeople according to the Vice Chancellor Professor Wendy Larner. It is not known by students, staff or the public who these business people are or the industries their businesses are involved in.

“Given the human rights record of Kazakhstan, we believe it is essential for the university to be transparent about who it gets support from and works with in the country. Kazakhstan is a nation with significant human rights issues including torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; arbitrary arrest or detention; transnational repression against individuals in another country; serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including violence or threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists and censorship; prohibiting independent trade unions or significant or systematic restrictions on workers’ freedom of association; violence or threats against labour activists or union members; and the presence of any of the worst forms of child labour.”

Fossil fuel exploration

The motion also calls for content on fossil fuel exploration to be taken out of courses for students enrolling at Cardiff University Kazakhstan from academic year 2026-27 and onwards.

One of the four courses which commenced at Cardiff University Kazakhstan in academic year 2025-26 is BSc Exploration Geology, which includes content on petroleum exploration.

The motion states: “This is concerning given that Kazakhstan is a major producer of fossil fuels: between 2000 and 2023, Kazakhstan’s extraction of natural gas increased by 246%, crude oil by 142% and coal by 48%. Exploration Geology is the least popular course at Cardiff University Kazakhstan, with just 33 (10.4%) of its 316 students in academic year 2025-26 enrolled on it. Teaching exploration geology including content on fossil fuels extraction in Kazakhstan goes against the university’s ‘Our Future, together: Our Path to 2035’ vision of ‘solving grand challenges in areas such as climate change, biodiversity… and sustainability’.

In addition the motion asks the Students’ Union to do a feasibility study into opening a branch at Cardiff University Kazakhstan, including integrating current societies and setting up athletic teams, integrating the student representation system being set up, and investigating various ways of democratising a Students’ Union branch in Kazakhstan and/or integrating it with Cardiff Students’ Union democracy. Currently, 38 societies have been set up by students at Cardiff University Kazakhstan and student rep networks are being set up, although it is unclear whether there is any kind of Students’ Union structure being set up around these.

A Cardiff University spokesperson said: “The motions put forward in February by the Student Senate are for Cardiff University Students’ Union and its sabbatical officers to consider. We enjoy a good relationship with our sabbatical officers. We continue to engage with them constructively on the issues that are important to our students.”