Britain's highest paid university vice chancellor who is paid £451,000 a year was handed an interest-free loan of over £31,000 to buy a CAR

  • Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell got an interest free loan of more than £31,000 to spent on a car 
  • She was given the loan as part of her £451,000 salary and benefits package
  • She's the only member of the university's senior management team to ever get such a loan 

Dame Glynis received an interest-free loan of more than £31,000 to spend on a car, it has been revealed

Dame Glynis received an interest-free loan of more than £31,000 to spend on a car, it has been revealed

The highest paid university vice chancellor in the UK received an interest-free loan of more than £31,000 to spend on a car, it has been revealed.

Students at Bath University are outraged after Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell was given the loan as part of her £451,000 salary and benefits package.

Dame Glynis is the only member of the university's senior management team to ever receive such a loan, a Freedom of Information request found.  

The FOI also disclosed she has no interest to pay on it, leaving students at the university irate. 

The university said: '[It] has made available to the Vice-Chancellor during the year 2015-16 a car loan as a cost-effective means of providing the benefits to which she is contractually entitled.

'The car loan was in existence at the start of the year and the balance remained unchanged throughout the year at £31,489.

'The cost to the university of providing the loan is included in the Vice-Chancellor's emoluments.' 

Dame Glynis has previously been criticised for receiving more than £18,000 in expenses for her free home.

She had utilities and council tax on the flat paid, plus £8,224 for housekeeping and laundry.  

Bath University also spent £1,286 on electricity, £3,848 on gas, £390 on water and sewerage and £3,082 on council tax. It said the expenses were not registered as vice-chancellor Dame Glynis's because the flat is used to host events.

In previous years Dame Glynis has even put through some £2 biscuits on her expenses.

Dame Glynis has previously been criticised for receiving more than £18,000 in expenses for her free home

Dame Glynis has previously been criticised for receiving more than £18,000 in expenses for her free home

The latest news prompted a backlash from students at the university. 

Iona Kynaston, a psychology student, said: 'That our Vice-Chancellor receives interest-free loans for her car as part of a huge benefits package, whilst students at the university have to pay six per cent interest on their loan repayments, illustrates the obscene double standards of the University of Bath's senior management.

'Increasingly, students are coming to realise there is one set of rules for the university's elite which contrasts with the increasing precocity the vast majority of students and staff find themselves in.'

She added: 'Bath University is a public body and should be run transparently and in the public interest.

'Revelations such as this increase the urgency with which staff, students and the general public must confront senior management and demand change.' 

Local Labour councillor Joe Rayment said: 'For the students who are paying six per cent interest on their loans, this will be a slap in the face, and they will be absolutely right to be angry.

'This latest revelation will come as no surprise to anyone but we must not let our low expectations of the university's management and governance detract from the fact that this is scandalous.'

Dame Glynis has led the university since 2001 when it had 8,000 students and 2,000 employees.

She has overseen huge growth in sixteen years and the university now has more than 20,000 students and employs 4,800 people.

Dame Glynis, pictured being made a Dame by the Princess Royal in May 2012, has led Bath university since 2001

Dame Glynis, pictured being made a Dame by the Princess Royal in May 2012, has led Bath university since 2001

However that period has also seen her pay skyrocket.  

The MPs Kerry McCarthy, Darren Jones, David Drew and Andrew Murrison all recently quit roles at Bath's university court in protest at her pay.

In February, the court - a body which represents the interests of its stakeholders - met to discuss a motion censuring the remuneration committee for allowing Dame Glynis's pay to escalate. 

After a debate, the court voted by 33 to 30 not to censure the committee - although the vice chancellor and members of the remuneration committee took part in the vote themselves. 

A university spokeswoman said: 'The university is committed to supporting our students and for those from households with lower incomes we offer a range of bursaries and scholarships to help with course costs and living expenses.

'The student loan interest rate is set by the UK Government.

'As part of Universities UK, the University of Bath is advocating for a reduction to the interest rate charged on student loans and asking for the re-introduction of maintenance grants to be considered.'


 

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