Vice-Chancellor's Salary

Professor Edward Peck took up his post as Vice-Chancellor in August 2014. Prior to that he had spent six years as Pro-Vice Chancellor for Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham where he had previously been Head of School and Head of Department. He started his academic career at King’s College London in 1995, joining after a number of senior roles in the NHS.

The Vice-Chancellor’s remuneration is reviewed annually by the Remuneration Committee, one of the sub-committees of the Board of Governors (see the Terms of Reference of the Committee).

In considering any increase in his salary, or indeed that of any member of the senior team, this Committee has taken into account:

• the performance of the University overall and against the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) agreed by the Board of Governors;
• the comparability of the current package to peers both within the sector and appropriate benchmarks external to the sector; and
• pay and bonus principles and practice across the University.

The Vice-Chancellor is not a member of the Remuneration Committee. The Vice-Chancellor is invited to attend the Committee’s meeting to advise the Committee on agenda items that do not relate to his own salary or other potential benefits. Both a member of NTU staff appointed to the Board of Governors and a recent NTU student selected by the Chair of Governors - in collaboration with Nottingham Trent Students Union’ - are members of the Committee.

Recent recognition for NTU

NTU has been awarded a University of the Year award in four of the last six: Times Higher Education University of the Year 2017; The Times and The Sunday Times Modern University of the Year 2018; University of the Year in The Guardian University Awards 2019; and, most recently, the The Times and The Sunday Times Modern University of the Year 2023.

The latest University of the Year accolade was based on NTU rising 28 places in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023 league table to 42nd. It increased its position on almost every measure and its top-performing results related to teaching quality (26th), student experience (top 20), and graduate prospects (an improvement of 19 places).

In addition, NTU scored above the sector average in the 2022 National Student Satisfaction Survey. It achieved an overall 81% satisfaction score compared to a sector average of 76% and out-performed the sector average in almost every aspect of the survey, questions relating to including academic support and learning community. Several courses received 100% overall satisfaction, including some in Business, Art & Design, and Science and Technology.

Placings in the Good University Guide are also influenced by university performance in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and the 2023 version was the first to include the results of the 2021 REF. NTU’s results from this UK-wide assessment of university research were the most improved in the sector compared to the last REF in 2014. REF 2021 classed 83% of NTU’s research activity as either world-leading or internationally excellent, a step change on the previous assessment which rated 55% of NTU’s research as world-leading or internationally excellent. These results reflected a greater focus on and investment in research over recent years, with over 400 researchers at NTU taking part this time around, almost twice as many as in 2014.

Further recognition of the quality of NTU research occurred in November 2021 when NTU was awarded a prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education, the highest national honour for a university, for its work on cultural heritage. This work brings together science, engineering, arts and humanities to develop innovative ways to reveal, record, understand and restore culturally significant objects and protected monuments. It is the second time that NTU has been bestowed this honour, the first being in 2015 for leading-edge research on the safety and security of global citizens.

Nottingham Trent University is the fifth largest institution in the UK by total student numbers (HESA), with a total student body of approximately 40,000 students. It is the most popular university in the UK, as judged by UK undergraduate enrolments, and has maintained this position for the last four years.
NTU was ranked 2nd out of 100 institutions in the UK in the University Compare Top 100 rankings 2022; this was based on course quality, accommodation, student social care and whether or not it would be recommended to a friend. It was rated as the best university in the UK for student life in the WhatUni Student Choice Awards 2022.

For the first time, in 2021/22, NTU became a top 10 university for sport, finishing ninth in the British Universities and Colleges Sport league table.

NTU was rated 5/5 stars by QS Stars 2022, including 5 stars for Teaching, Employability, Research and Facilities.

NTU is one of the most sustainable universities in the world. In 2022, it was ranked 2nd most sustainable university in the world - and 1st in the UK - for sustainability-themed education and research out of more than 900 participating universities in the UI Green Metric University World Rankings.

Contribution to National Policy

NTU continues to contribute to and shape national policy around higher education, in particular in relation to vocational education and levelling up. The current Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education has highlighted NTU as an institution excelling at technical and vocational qualifications and apprenticeships to meet the skills needs of the economy both in his current role and during his time as Chair of the Education Select Committee.

NTU’s innovative partnership with Vision West Nottinghamshire College was cited by the Times Education Commission in 2022 as an example of effective collaboration that drives social mobility through linking further and higher education. It was visited recently by the DLUH&C Levelling-Up Taskforce as part of a broader discussion about the contribution of the University’s partnerships in Mansfield and Ashfield.

NTU has also been recognised by Ministers for its innovative work in a number of areas, including combatting sexual violence and addressing spiking.

External Recognition and Contribution of Professor Peck

In 2021/22, Professor Peck was a Trustee of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) and Deputy Chair of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). He was an elected member of the Board of Universities UK and Chair of Midlands Enterprise Universities. He continued as a member of the Nottingham Growth Board and the Executive Board of the Midlands Engine.

On a personal note, Professor Peck has been conferred the award of Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences for his contribution to the discipline. He was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire in March 2020. He was the President of the Newark and Nottinghamshire Agricultural Society from February 2020 to February 2022.

Professor Peck was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours List for Services to Higher Education.

Following his membership of the Post-18 Fees and Funding Review between March 2018 and June 2019, in June 2022 the then Higher Education and Further Education Minister announced that the Department for Education had appointed Professor Peck as its first Student Support Champion.

University Key Performance Indicators

Students and Stakeholders

Financial

Organisational Capability

Ways of Working

Salary, Benefits and Expenses

The Vice-Chancellor does not have a “grace and favour” home. He is not provided with a car and NTU does not employ a chauffeur on his behalf.

The Vice-Chancellor's salary is reported in the University's financial statements on an annual basis. The financial statements for the financial year 2021/22 will be published online in early 2023. However in the interests of transparency, the Vice-Chancellor's salary history from 2014/15 is shown below:

Salary information

xx - values cannot be confirmed until November 2023

* In addition a non-consolidated payment of 3% of salary was awarded in line with that provided to all colleagues at NTU during the 2021/22 financial year.

**  Inclusive of benchmarked salary increase of 3.5%, reflective of NTU’s income exceeding £400m for the first time in 2021/22 and thus the comparator group changing. It includes also the award of the increase in basic pay agreed for all NTU employees of 3.5%.

Personal expenses

The expenses for the Vice-Chancellor (from 1 August 2014) are shown below:

Corporate credit card spend relating to the Vice-Chancellor

Travel and similar expenditure incurred by the University on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor in the performance of his duties