THE NUMBER of high earners at the north's two university's has reached record levels despite teaching staff's salaries falling in real terms over the past decade.
Queen's University Belfast now has 56 staff earning above £100,000 compared to 40 a year earlier, while Ulster University has seen those above the same threshold increase from 18 to 23 in the space of 12 months.
The revelation comes ahead of an escalation of industrial action by lecturers and support staff.
The two university's highest earners are Queen's vice-chancellor Professor Ian Greer and his UU counterpart Professor Paul Bartholomew, who both have salaries in excess of £300,000.
University and College Union (UCU) members will resume strike action at both Queen's and UU on Wednesday February 1 in a dispute over pay, working conditions and pensions.
The union has earmarked 17 further days of industrial action throughout February and March.
Salaries for senior staff at the universities are determined internally, whereas pay for teaching staff is set centrally by the University and Colleges Employers Association.
Professor Dominic Bryan, anthropology lecturer and UCU case membership secretary at Queen's, acknowledged that universities were "vital economic drivers" and that "leading such an institution is a difficult job".
"But something has been going badly wrong when staff right across the university have seen a 25 per cent decline in pay in real terms since 2010," he told The Irish News.
"Queen's students voted by an 85 per cent majority in support of the UCU industrial action when last polled in a referendum.
"The students get that there is a problem, the staff get that there is a problem."
A spokesperson for Queen's said the university was "world-class" and "research-intensive", and that its salaries were designed to attract "leading academic and research talent".
"We currently have 48 leading research and academic staff receiving salaries of more than £100k," the spokesperson said.
"Every permanent employee in the university also receives an annual percentage salary uplift which resulted in 15 existing staff moving into the higher pay bracket of £100,000 plus in the last financial year."
Ulster University did not comment.
An SDLP spokesperson said universities were paying "bloated salaries to top earners, while refusing others a modest pay rise".
“While university staff are forced onto picket lines in wintery conditions in an attempt to secure fair pay, working conditions and pension protections, it is clear that the top tier of university staff do not have to share those concerns," the spokesperson said.
"The SDLP would urge the universities to engage with unions and employers and reach an agreement that recognises the concerns of staff – it’s unconscionable that some staff should be earning sky-high wages while others are struggling to pay their bills and put food on the table.”
