HAMPSHIRE universities paid inflation-busting rises in wages and pension payments to their vice-chancellors last year, new figures have revealed.

The details have been unveiled just days after hundreds of lecturers and staff walked out on strike over changes to their own pensions.

And it comes as universities are deciding how much more to charge students for courses as they face huge cuts in central funding.

There was a 15.8 per cent rise in the salary and pension provision paid out for the top job at the University of Southampton between 2008-9 and 2009-10.

A University of Southampton spokesperson said the rise was because a performance-related bonus for former vice-chancellor Professor Sir Bill Wakeham was included with the pay of current boss, Professor Don Nutbeam, who took over in October 2009.

But the university was unable to provide details of how much Professor Nutbeam is earning, and how it compares with his predecessor.

At the same time, Southampton Solent University vice-chancellor Professor Van Gore received a boost of 8.31 per cent in his wages and pension, taking home £207,179 with another £28,491 paid into his retirement pot.

Vice-chancellors are members of the same national pension scheme that members of the University and College Union (UCU) last week went on strike in a bid to protect.

Both universities said the levels are in line with the market, and their bosses have not been given any rise this year because of the pressures on funding.

But Sally Hunt, general secretary of the UCU, which was behind last week’s industrial action, said there needs to be reform of vice-chancellors’ pay.

She said: “UCU members in universities (have gone) on strike defending their pay and conditions, and it is somewhat galling to discover that many vice-chancellors are still enjoying handsome, and utterly arbitrary, pay hikes.

“We want an end to the murky world of pay at the top of our universities and a fair system applied consistently from top to bottom.

“This does nothing to suggest that vice-chancellors’ pay is properly scrutinised or that the process for deciding an individual’s pay is fit for purpose.

“Even after years of promising to rein in pay at the top, there are examples of whopping rises.”

A spokesman for the University of Southampton said: “The vice-chancellor has not taken an increase in salary since it was set, in September 2008, on his appointment.

“The vice-chancellor’s salary is agreed by the university’s remuneration committee, made up of lay members, which reports to the university’s council.”

A Solent University spokesman said Professor Gore’s pay has also been frozen since January last year because of the tough economic conditions.

He said: “The vice-chancellor’s salary level, which was set in early 2009, is correctly placed within the sector and does not include any other benefits.

“Although the performance pay element is modest, his salary reflects his expertise during the university’s significant period of change and growth.”