[user104658]

Originally Posted by The_Hogfather

£60k still isn't much for a university HoD tbh. I still say good on him though, and I hope people would say good for me if my salary increased tenfold on as many years!

I'd agree that £60k would be low if academic quality is to remain high; that's the main problem I guess. It can seem wrong to have very high paid people in these positions but, to put it simply, if the salary isn't attractive then the positions are going to be filled by people who are less intelligent, less insightful, less able, less creative, etc etc. as talented individuals will naturally move on to better prospects. That's not what you want in an academic environment. Students should be around people who are at the top of their game in order to be academically inspired.

That said; I also think £600k is a bit over-the-top... and would say that £250k is a much more moderate and realistic figure to strike that balance (especially when you consider that for someone advanced in academia, their salary probably isn't their only income source).