“Has anyone else noticed that the Vice-Chancellor has recently recruited a new member of the Senior Management Team in the form of Bill Rammell, a former New Labour MP ousted at the last General Election and reputed to have had an attack of conscience which lead to him repaying possibly overclaimed Parliamentary expenses? His first working day is today, 1 February 2011.
No doubt this will bolster the strength of the SMT, enhance the business acumen of the ¿enterprise¿ University and ensure there is no attrition in student numbers following the rise in fees. The income of the University, after all, underpins the payment of all the staff there, including the SMT.
We can hope, however, that Mr Rammell¿s appointment will not increase any stranglehold on the freedom of academic expression, as it is widely thought he will spend most of his time travelling the world in search of foreign students to attend the North Hill Enterprise.
Of course the conduct of the Remuneration Committee and the Board of Governors itself must be called into question over concerns for Corporate Governance standards which have lead to the ¿insensitivity¿ of the Vice-Chancellors remuneration and increases in it. But who will subject those processes to scrutiny? Will it be the auditors? Or The Herald? Or the Higher Education Funding Council? Local MPs? I suspect none of these will take a stand against these excesses because, among other things, the North Hill Enterprise is, like others, moving increasingly towards a grey area somewhere between the public and private sectors and apparently accountable to neither and locally there is a ready and supine willingness to accept the status quo without question (especially where personal financial interest might be compromised by intervention).
A glance at the latest financial statements of the University (buried deep in its website) shows that a third of the institution¿s revenues of 208.7m come from tuition fee and over a half from government grants (still therefore a 50% State-dependant entity) and a half of the revenues go in staff costs. So a half of the SMT¿s salaries and benefits are derived from national government viz the taxpayer. Also visible in the statements is the 2,132,718 in gross salaries paid in the year to 31 July 2010 to 13 University employees ¿ an average of 164,055. Comparison with the remuneration of the Prime Minister might be invited.
I shall be watching developments on this front with increasing interest.”

“Her salary is abhorent. It is not justified. How can she live with herself in the knowledge that her greed is depriving hundreds of families from either an income or a higher education. Her avarice and those of other fat cats are destroying both the economic and morale structures of this country.”

“Personally I think it is hilarious! The only thing that could top this is the prof giving you the finger in the photo! A 20% rise on an already massive salary when everyone else is either being cut or asked to pay three times as much, All she needs now is a massive strap on and the rest of you are truly ...........!
Obscene yes it all is, story and all!
Enjoy your summer of protests students I am sure the professor will.”

“1. This woman will sleep tonight. She doesn't give a stuff about the rest of us in the real world having to make do with cuts in pay.
2. The remuneration board should be sacked en masse (or if they have any modicum of integrity, should resign en masse). They are as bad as she is for suggesting the pay rise.
3. How big of Prof. Purcell to, quote, reflect these in my own personal giving plans, unquote. Better you refused the rise in the first place. That would have looked much better, and you would not have scored a hat-trick of own goals.
4. Joseph of The Astor. You must be mad. Lets look at the benefits of 1000's of students in this city. No, I'll tell you what, just take a stroll around Mutley one weekend evening. Let's look at the architectural eyesores on Exeter Street, Cobourg Street to name but two, purpose-built for our dear guests to stay in.
5. And why should Prof Purcell need a car and driver?

Unbelievable....un-be-bloody-lievable.”

“The University is one of the best things that has happened to our City, bringing 1000s of students and their families here with that Millios of pounds of revenue and much more,
Prof Wendy Purcell has worked very hard to achieve that. We get what we PAY for.”

“Is this the same University of Plymouth that is laying off it's academic staff? The same Univeristy of Plymouth that sponsors Marine Academy Plymouth (formerly Tamarside)? As we stand the school budget is facing a £300,000 shortfall at a minimum, and 19 support staff are being made redundant, that's before the teaching staff get looked at.

Pay at the top of these educational facilities is disgusting, our esteemed headteacher is on at least £125,000 and yes of course she has a difficult job to do, but is it worth £125k? Teaching Assistants, who earn around £8,000-£10,000 hours are being cut by 80 hours a month, the most vulnerable children in our school are being ignored in order for us to focus on the Year 11s who will make the GCSE results look better, leading to a better OFSTED report and no doubt an increase in the headteachers salary. At least she'll be able to replace her brand new Audi TT if it goes wrong again. Meanwhile this Vice Chancellor is creaming double that salary for doing whatever it is she does. On behalf of the 19 suport staff members earning an average of £11,000 each, and on behalf of the students who will have to pay £6,994 a year if they want to go to Plymouth Uni, and on behalf of the MAP pupils who are being groomed to attend this pumped up polytechnic when in reality they have little chance of getting in, yet alone being able to afford to go, I sincerely hope the VC can sleep at night.”

“Is this the same University of Plymouth that is laying off it's academic staff? The same Univeristy of Plymouth that sponsors Marine Academy Plymouth (formerly Tamarside)? As we stand the school budget is facing a £300,000 shortfall at a minimum, and 19 support staff are being made redundant, that's before the teaching staff get looked at.

Pay at the top of these educational facilities is disgusting, our esteemed headteacher is on at least £125,000 and yes of course she has a difficult job to do, but is it worth £125k? Teaching Assistants, who earn around £8,000-£10,000 hours are being cut by 80 hours a month, the most vulnerable children in our school are being ignored in order for us to focus on the Year 11s who will make the GCSE results look better, leading to a better OFSTED report and no doubt an increase in the headteachers salary. Meanwhile this Vice Chancellor is creaming double that salary for doing whatever it is she does. On behalf of the 19 suport staff members earning an average of £11,000 each, and on behalf of the students who will have to pay £6,994 a year if they want to go to Plymouth Uni, and on behalf of the MAP pupils who are being groomed to attend this pumped up polytechnic when in reality they have little chance of getting in, yet alone being able to afford to go, I sincerely hope the VC can sleep at night.”

“There is nothing humbling about a 20% pay increase.”

“Awwww come on cut the Prof a wee bit of slack, its only £5'452 a week.
Plus she needs a driver and car paid for by the Poly as well cos it would be unfair to ask her to pay for a taxi or a bus pass out of her meager wages.”

“Finally this statement is published us students were wondering if we were ever going to get our point across!”