THE UNIVERSITY that has ploughed nearly £10m into a New York campus project with no degree students has run up a deficit of over £5 million.
Glasgow Caledonian’s annual financial statement also reveals that 18 senior staff members were paid over £100,000 – double the number five years ago.
Dr Nick McKerrell, a trade union leader on the campus, said: “The chickens are coming home to roost on questionable financial decisions.”
Glasgow Caley, led by principal Pamela Gillies, opened its New York campus at a glitzy event in the Big Apple in 2014. However, although the project has premises and staff, it has failed to get off the ground due to a hold up in obtaining a teaching license from the New York education authorities.
The university, which owns GCU-NY, has bankrolled the initiative to the tune of £9.5m, which has been made available by way of a loan.
Before Christmas, it was reported that Glasgow Caledonian would be in the red for the first time in at least nine years over a £2.7m deficit in its 2015/16 accounts.
The financial document, put online last week, confirms this figure, but this sum is only the “operating” deficit. The “consolidated” deficit stands at £5.1m. By contrast, the two other universities in the city – Strathclyde and Glasgow – ran a surplus in the same year.
Gillies did not mention the New York campus in her introduction to the accounts, but she addressed the challenging economic background faced by universities: “These Financial statements highlight the acute economic challenges that GCU, in common with all institutions within the higher education sector in Scotland and the UK, is currently confronting.”
On the deficit, the accounts state: “The deficit includes a combined non-cash charge of £2.2m in respect of the accounting for the Strathclyde Pension Fund current service costs and net interest charge of £1.5m and £0.7m respectively.”
“It also includes voluntary restructuring costs of £1.35m, increased National Insurance costs and increased employer pension contributions in respect of the Scottish Teachers Superannuation Scheme.”
The accounts also reveal that Gillies’ overall remuneration fell from £273,000 in 2014/15 to £266,000 in the last financial year, a decrease caused partly by her performance-related payment dropping from £16,000 to £6,000.
No Glasgow Caley staff member other than the principal earned a salary of over £100,000 10 years ago, but five years later the figure was nine and the latest accounts reveal the current total is 18.
The university told this newspaper that salaries for senior staff are overseen by the governing court and are subject each year to review by its remuneration committee.
More broadly, Gillies’ introduction in the accounts noted that the University has presided over the “successful delivery” of a £32m Heart of the Campus project.
She also revealed that 35 per cent of the institution’s students are from disadvantaged backgrounds and the university has an 80 per cent completion rate.
Dr McKerrell, the convener of the university’s combined trade union committee, said: "The worst thing about this deficit for staff is that the jet-set lifestyle and excesses of senior management at Glasgow Caledonian continue unabated.
"To have a deficit of millions is bad enough but when money is being squandered on the New York project there are many questions to be answered. No licence has been awarded and we are now three years behind schedule of management's business plan for GCU New York.
"On top of that our accounts reveal that we have 18 senior managers earning over £100,000 – putting them among the wealthiest in Scottish society. When staff face cuts to courses, pay restraint and insecurity this truly is unacceptable.”
A spokeswoman for the university said the accounts had been prepared in accordance with new financial reporting standards, adding: “In addition to making a significant investment of £32m in our Glasgow campus, the University remains in a strong and stable financial position, with a healthy cash at bank holding, and measures currently being implemented to secure its annual surplus position over the next two years.”
On the New York campus, she said: “The investment for long-term income growth in our New York campus initiative has been included in our budget-setting for the past three years, during which time we have not recorded a deficit, and in order to ensure long-term, sustainable income growth in an increasingly challenging landscape, the University must continue to invest in our transnational education in key countries around the world.”
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