THE boss of Bournemouth University – who is under fire for receiving a 19 per cent pay rise – is comfortably the best paid public sector chief in Dorset.

Vice-chancellor Professor John Vinney’s salary stands at £211,000 after the rise.

One activist has said it is “hypocritical” that Professor Vinney received a large pay rise while some staff on campus were not earning the living wage of £7.65 an hour.

The university accounts show the vice-chancellor’s salary rose to £211,000 and was worth £244,000 including pension contributions and benefits in kind.

The University and College Union is in dispute with the university over what it calls a “miserly” pay offer to other staff.

Neil Duncan-Jordan, chairman of the the steering group of the Living Wage Dorset campaign, said the university was signed up as a living wage employer but that guarantee did not cover staff employed by other contractors on campus.

He said: “It’s rather hypocritical that this person in charge of the university can take such a huge pay increase on top of what is already a large salary for most of us. He’s aware that people providing services to his staff and students are being denied effectively a living wage of £7.65 an hour.

“While we know that these are not staff directly employed by the university, they are nevertheless staff the university contracts in and who work on their premises.

“He has a moral obligation, if not a legal obligation, to address that.”

Professor Vinney was not available for interview but the university said the pay of senior staff was set by a remuneration committee, whose members were independent.

It said: “The vice-chancellor of BU did receive a pay increase in 2012, but is still paid below the average for vice-chancellor roles in the UK. He was paid substantially below the benchmark for the first two years of his appointment.”

Professor's salary is £211,000

Professor John Vinney’s £211,000 salary makes him comfortably the highest-paid head of a public sector organisation locally.

Tony Spotswood, chief executive of Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch NHS Trust, is paid between £190,000 and £195,000.

Debbie Simpson, the county’s chief constable, was recruited last year at a salary of £146,000.

Debbie Ward, chief executive of Dorset County Council, receives £140,000.

Tony Williams, chief executive of Bournemouth Borough Council, makes £125,373.

And the Borough of Poole is looking to recruit a new chief executive on £125,000.

  •  Vice-chancellors in the Russell Group of 24 research-based universities – of which Bournemouth is not a member – received an average of £293,000 in 2012-13, a rise of just over £22,000 or 8.1 per cent.

The president and provost of University College London, Sir Malcolm Grant, received a pay and pensions package of £365,432, despite only having spent three days a week in the job.

Don Nutbeam, vice-chancellor of the University of Southampton, received a salary of £294,000.

Outside the Russell Group, the vice-chancellor of the University of the West of England, Steve West, received a package worth £314,632.