Q&A with Dame DeAnne Julius

Poor UCL. A few comments on some fairly outrageous statements made by Dame DeAnne: "the chair runs the council" No, you don't. You CHAIR the Council. You do not make decisions on your own. On inflated Vice Chancellors' salaries: "There is nothing sinister about this" Sorry, but thousands of academics whose pay has been cut in real terms to the tune of 15% over the past 4 years would disagree. We tend to think it's shameless, and sinister in the sense that it indicates the degree to which universities have their priorities wrong. On university finances: "there are still elements of unsustainable funding streams such as the student loan programme, and unsustainable costs such as the university pension model, which will have to adapt and change" Are official statements from UCL Council rather than the Dame's personal opinions? If the latter, how can you, the Chair of Council make statements that have neither been discussed in Council or endorsed by UCL's Senior Management? And as an economist, you're fairly alone with your opinion. Many statisticians, mathematicians and economists have now established that the university pension system is not 'unsustainable'. It is, in fact, in surplus and likely to remain so for years to come.