News Briefs
Chelse mckee, Staff
Former university president passes away
Ralph Campbell, University of Manitoba president from 1976 to 1981, passed away earlier this year.
A native of Ontario, Campbell, born in 1918, attended the University of Toronto and Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.
Before becoming president of the U of M in 1976, Campbell was president of Scarborough College, a subsidiary school to the U of T.
As well, he was an economic advisor for the governments of Jordan and Kenya in 1962 and 1969, respectively. He would later return to Africa in 1981 to assist with the project of Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
In 1981, Campbell established the Dr. and Mrs. Campbell Outreach Award, designated for staff members to “enlarge and enrich the contacts between the university and all segments of the community,” according to the U of M’s website.
Friends and colleagues of Campbell’s, at the end of his presidency with the university, created a trust fund to support his outreach award.
Campbell received an honoury doctoral degree from the
U of M in 1984.
Before his death, Campbell lived in Orilla, Ont. with his wife Ruth, and was still a part of the U of M campus, even as recent as attending the U of M’s 2006 spring convocation.
Australia higher education under review
On March 13, Julia Gillard, a deputy prime minister for the Australian government, announced a major review of the country’s higher education.
The review will be chaired by Denise Bradley, an emeritus professor and a former vice chancellor for the University of South Australia.
During the announcement, Gillard said that Australian higher education was in desperate need for a review after a decade of the Howard government and that the review will be the first major review of the sector since 2002.
Gillard also mentioned that some of the goals of the review will be the improvement of funding arrangements and student support programs and to develop a policy reform over the next decade.
Some of the objectives of the review include creating diverse institutions, which perform to global standards, improving the contribution of higher education to productivity and the participation in the labour market, wider access to higher education, and better articulation between vocational education and training institutions and universities.
A preliminary report on the review is scheduled to be completed by October with a finalized report designated for the end of this year.
UK academics get 12% salary increase
A new study, entitled Times Higher Education-Grant Thornton, released through the Times Higher Education in London, England, has revealed that, in 2006-07, higher education academic salaries had risen by 12.6 per cent in two years.
The salaries of vice chancellors rose eight per cent, compared to figures from 2005-06, becoming an average of C$356,506.23, which included benefits in kind.
The highest paid vice chancellor was Sir Richard Sykes of Imperial College London, who earned C$697,601.09 in 2006-07, but the university did not pay him any pension contributions.
Sir Colin Campbell from the University of Nottingham, now succeeded by David Greenway, received C $617,623.53 in 2006-07, with an additional pension of C$94,009.76. According to the study, Campbell’s salary had risen 27 per cent from the previous year but it also incorporated pension payments.
An article released through the Times Higher Education cited that the Office for National Statistics’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2007 showed professors’ annual earnings, C$132,868.95, trumping members of Parliament and pilots and flight engineers, who made C$123,924.42 and C$130,870.36, respectively.
The Higher Education Funding Council for England announced in February of this year that university borrowings are at their highest
levels since 1997.
