I never thought an academic will earn just under 40K for 59hours per week of work. Comparing all the training and studying had to undergo all those years, the salary seems like a joke. Inflation within the economic market should actually trigger the lecturers to request their salary to be increased effectively. Inflation rate has been increasing steadily in UK over the past few years but the Public funds have not done so.
Manchester's idea to employ aknowledgeable personalities or celebrities has the effect the Public funders to reconsider their grants with immediate effect. With applications rising and univerisity's popularity increasing as a result, the end of the day the university makes up for the ridiculous salaries provides to all those celebrities/personalities. The Public Funding increases and new sponsors desperately want to involve paying a considerable amount of money as an advertising campaign within such popular instituition will boost up their profits.

Mario, Edinburgh, UK

Its just a silly story that the Manchester Evening News Picked up as a bit of a laugh. Its just as daft to think of academics as being paid per lecturing hour as Wayne Rooney being paid per kick of the ball.

In answer to "Jane, Coleraine" above. No top research Universities like Manchester are not _just_ for "educating students (who happen to be paying a great deal of money)". For one thing home and EU students are taught at a loss to the university, as the cost of staff time in teaching them is way below the "Full Economic Cost" as assessed by research grant funding. Granted overseas students do pay a lot of money and this subsidises home students, but it is close to the market rate. Universities perform many functions, as well as research they provide continuity for scholarship and act as reservoirs of knowledge. Their strength in these roles are what qualifies them to teach degree courses.

I wonder if Jane has visited a UK university in the last 20 years? "but most of the arts, business, and soft degree teachers work about 15 hours a week and disappear from campus from the end of May till the beginning of October." I have worked in British Universities, both former polytechnics and Russell group since 1985 and have never met an academic fitting that description. Certainly at Manchester and other Russell group Universities they would not survive without working very long hours on research: remember that departments scoring below internationally excellent on the RAE typically get closed down. I know professors of music composition who put in extremely long hours throughout the year, not only teaching and serving as heads of department and still manage to compose Major pieces of music. "William, Banbury" is supporting this myth. Maybe it was true many decades ago before I worked in academia, but it seems almost as out of date as saying "vicars only work one day a week"!

"How Manchester has the gall to make staff redundant (and I'm quite sure there were more administrators than academics)" I think that Jane has not understood the facts here as there has been a lot of mis-reporting. The University was running a debt of about 5% of its annual turnover following the merger between UMIST and VUM, and the VC had committed himself (perhaps both rashly but generously) to a policy of no compulsory redundancy. So all the losses were under a very generous voluntary severance scheme. Yes it was mainly administrators who left, and of course inevitably many were very good ones who could easily get another job.

Adam Up, Manchester, UK

This just sums up the attitude of universities today. They have forgotten what they are about - educating students (who happen to be paying a great deal of money), not soothing the brow of jumped-up arrogant twits like Amis with mega financial rewards. As for academics constantly bleating that old adage about doing research - scientists maybe, but most of the arts, business, and soft degree teachers work about 15 hours a week and disappear from campus from the end of May till the beginning of October. Unfortunately, most Vice-Chancellors are ex-academics so it's unlikely they would have the backbone to insist that these employees actually stay on campus and increase their publications to reflect their working hours. How Manchester has the gall to make staff redundant (and I'm quite sure there were more administrators than academics) and in the same breath fork out this sort of money for a prima donna like Amis is scandlous. Time for university auditing to be made public.

Jane, Coleraine, N Ireland