University’s ‘phantom campus’ £1m wage bill
... but New York base has four staff and no students
IT was a flagship bid by a Scots university to make an impression on the international scene.
But nearly three years after its launch, Glasgow Caledonian University’s (GCU) £5.6million New York campus has spent £1million on wages – despite having no degree students.
Unions have called f or an i ndependent i nquiry after it was revealed that GCU’s lower Manhattan campus has spent the extortionate sum despite having not awarded a single degree.
Opened by Alex Salmond when he was First Minister, the university in New York has still not been awarded its licence to teach and award degrees. It has now been revealed that the campus has paid out more than £1million in wages – but only employs four members of staff.
It was also discovered that GCU’s principal, Pamela Gillies, has made the journey across the Atlantic 13 times on visits, racking up a travel bill in excess of £81,000 in the process.
Professor Gillies – who earns £273,000-a-year – is reported to have stayed a number of luxury hotels during her visits but the university says that any trips are ‘ subject to scrutiny’ by finance committees.
The spending, revealed in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, was condemned by Nick McKerrell, convener of GCU’s combined union committee and a law lecturer.
He said: ‘The continued extravagant spending on GCU New York is unjustifiable in an age of austerity.
‘It is incredible and unsustainable that the university has signed a 15year lease without securing a licence five- star Gramercy Park and the luxury Crosby Street Hotel. GCU officials have defended the excursions made by senior members of staff.
A spokesman said: ‘ The principal and vice- chancellor play a leading role in developing research, business, academic and philanthropic partnerships as well as conferring GCU degrees to over 1,000 students in Bangladesh, South Africa and Oman and working at our campuses in London and New York.
‘Professor Gillies maximises the value of each business trip by fulfilling a full schedule of engagements to further the interests of the university and Scotland.’
The spokesman i nsisted that Professor Gillies’ ‘travel and accommodation costs are subject to scrutiny by the finance and general purposes and audit committees, as well as the University Court, which includes independent governors and two staff trade union members’.
GCU, which also operates in Oman, Bangladesh and London, said the New York project is entirely funded from its own resources and not the public purse.
The New York campus has played host to a number of public talks and commercial events, despite no students being officially taught there.
Its application for a licence to teach was submitted in 2014.