Indigenous leaders in Australian universities are paid less than their non-indigenous counterparts and denied opportunities to fill in for absent superiors, a study has found.
Leadership positions are also left vacant for years, contravening funding scheme rules and raising questions about the sector’s “genuine prioritisation” of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues.
Interviews with 23 of the estimated 37 indigenous executives in Australian universities have exposed disparities in how they are treated and remunerated. The median salary paid last year to the 11 indigenous pro vice-chancellors (PVCs) who participated in the study – about A$312,500 (£166,800) – was between 5 per cent and 7 per cent lower than the typical packages awarded to PVCs responsible for academic, research or international programmes, as quantified in a 2024 benchmarking study by management consultants Mercer.
All but one of the 11 indigenous deputy vice-chancellors (DVCs) were paid less than colleagues of similar rank at their institutions. Their median salary was between 19 per cent and 25 per cent lower, the study found.
The transparency of their pay arrangements was sometimes “veiled” through “sleight of hand”, with their salaries left at professorial level or “padded with research funds”.
