More upheaval about academic pay. A substantial number of consultants, university presidents and professors are paid what seem inordinate amounts of money. Taxpayers’ money. Let us cut their pay instead of child benefit! Tempting, but it does not cut wood. Even if the wages of the hundred best paid academics were cut to zero, the savings would be miniscule compared to the hole in the budget. Academic pay, however, is one reason why Ireland’s universities perform under par.
Academia is like soccer. The labour market is international. If you want to hire a star, you need to pay top dollar. The FAI hired Trappattoni, and pays him twice as much as Loew, the coach of Germany. Trappattoni had a stellar record, of course, but used to work with top players. Other coaches specialize in making mediocre teams surpass themselves.
If you want to hire a top academic, you need to offer an internationally competitive salary. But you also need to offer an environment in which the new hire can continue to excel. Academics do not work alone. Every top dog is supported by less-able colleagues, students and administrative staff – and inspired by equally brilliant colleagues across the hall.
But just like it was perhaps an illusion to think that Ireland could join the top ranks in soccer, Ireland cannot shine in every academic discipline. Merge TCD and UCD and you have a university in the European sub-top. Respected internationally but unable to attract or keep the highflyers, who will continue to flock to the top universities, not just for the pay, but also for the unsurpassed intellectual climate.
But Ireland does not need to be the best at everything. A top medical consultant is highly specialized. Her specific expertise would be needed only occasionally for the six million people of Ireland. Rather than maintaining, and rarely using, expensive expertise at home, it would be cheaper to fly rare cases abroad. And sure, let those medical consultants who bring in lots of foreign patients be paid an internationally competitive salary.
It is the same in the universities. You do not need a star to teach Introductory Whatever. It is only at master’s and PhD level that research excellence has a positive effect on teaching quality. Let those academics be paid well who bring in foreign students and research grants.
However, the egalitarian culture of Ireland’s public sector does not tolerate wage differences. During the Celtic Tiger, in an attempt to attract foreign stars, all salaries were raised. This had negative side effects then already: Young Irish talent could make so much money at home that they never gained useful experience abroad. Irish academia is insular. A broader perspective helps. Now, with austerity biting, Irish top academics find competitive offers elsewhere, but others are still priced out of the market.
Rather than cutting pay at the top, pay should be cut across the board – and raised again for those that deserve it.
The people who run universities and hospitals are also paid well. They have to be. These are large and complicated organizations. Good managers cost money. Instead of cutting pay, numbers should be cut. If universities are merged, there will be fewer university presidents. Fewer but larger universities would also avoid duplication, offer broader education, and gain international visibility.
Pay peanuts and you get monkeys. For some jobs, monkeys are all you need. More importantly, you can offer a monkey more than peanuts, but he will still be monkey. We should not reduce the top salaries in academia. Fewer should get top pay, though, and only those that are worth it.
an abridged version appeared in the Irish Independent of 6 November 2012
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