Indigenous university leaders ‘paid less than colleagues’

Indigenous leaders in Australian universities are paid less than their non-indigenous counterparts and denied opportunities to fill in for absent superiors, a study has found.

Leadership positions are also left vacant for years, contravening funding scheme rules and raising questions about the sector’s “genuine prioritisation” of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues.

Interviews with 23 of the estimated 37 indigenous executives in Australian universities have exposed disparities in how they are treated and remunerated. The median salary paid last year to the 11 indigenous pro vice-chancellors (PVCs) who participated in the study – about A$312,500 (£166,800) – was between 5 per cent and 7 per cent lower than the typical packages awarded to PVCs responsible for academic, research or international programmes, as quantified in a 2024 benchmarking study by management consultants Mercer.

All but one of the 11 indigenous deputy vice-chancellors (DVCs) were paid less than colleagues of similar rank at their institutions. Their median salary was between 19 per cent and 25 per cent lower, the study found.

The transparency of their pay arrangements was sometimes “veiled” through “sleight of hand”, with their salaries left at professorial level or “padded with research funds”.

The study team – Michelle Trudgett, deputy vice-chancellor for indigenous leadership at Western Sydney University, and three of her staff – obtained salary data from 23 indigenous people heading indigenous-specific university portfolios. “Indigenous staff are leading significant change in universities, yet the system still undervalues our contributions,” Trudgett told Times Higher Education.

The findings have been published in the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. “The sector continues to normalise lower remuneration for positions associated with indigenous leadership,” the paper says. “Inconsistent remuneration is not an anomaly but a defining feature.

“Unclear salary-setting processes and the continued practice of elevating role titles without corresponding adjustments in remuneration…highlight how universities undervalue indigenous expertise.”

The findings cast light on a segment of Australian academic leadership that emerged relatively recently. The first of the country’s indigenous university executives was appointed in 2009 and their numbers have roughly tripled over the past 13 years, according to the paper.

It says indigenous university executives are routinely assumed to head “small” portfolios despite their work across colleagues’ portfolios. Their remit includes strategic and policy development, governance, community and industry engagement, research leadership, oversight of philanthropy and communications, compliance with funding bodies, curriculum development, support of indigenous student success, capacity building for higher degree research students, administration of scholarships, infrastructure stewardship, land care and even human remains management.

They also play a “critical” role in fostering cultural safety, knowledge and understanding across their institutions, the paper says.

The study found no consistency in the rank of indigenous university executives. Some of the PVCs oversaw far more indigenous students and staff than DVCs in other institutions. Most indigenous executives were not given opportunities to act up when their direct supervisors went on leave. “It’s about what we’re allowed to do and what we’re not – what’s seen as our space and what’s not seen as our space,” one interviewee told the team.

“Senior indigenous leaders manage broad and complex portfolios that are often undervalued within Australian universities, underscoring the need for clearer expectations, fair recognition and stronger institutional support,” the paper says. “Recognising the full scope of their leadership would expand opportunities for indigenous leaders and strengthen the sector overall.”

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com