University Teachers
SIR,—Mary Warnock is misinformed in her remarks on the salaries of university teachers. The systems of payments of lecturers at Oxford and Cambridge are at the present day very different, and have diverged steadily since the reforms of the 'twenties. It is true that at Oxford some lecturers are paid by the university and others by colleges, but I am surprised to learn from her that some college lecturers at Oxford have gross salaries of no more than £300 a year. At Cambridge all lecturers (using this word to mean the teaching staff of the university below the ranks of professor and reader) are paid by the university, and their prime stipends as lecturers are subject to deductions in respect of part of their college emoluments as fellows of as substantial college admini- strative officers such as bursars, tutors, stewards or deans. The increase of lecturers' salaries in Cambridge is therefore a matter for the university and does not "require the decision of the individual colleges." All lecturers in Cambridge have shared in the recent salary increases. The title of college lecturer at Cambridge is now honorific, or may be merely another way of referring to what is usually called a director of studies or supervisor at Cambridge but is called a tutor at Oxford.—Yours
Previous page
