University's former vice chancellor stripped of Ivy Club membership

The former vice chancellor of De Montfort University will no longer get an Ivy Club membership included as part of their remuneration package, the university has said.

After examining the perks of the job the university decided to cancel its former vice chancellor's membership of the exclusive London club so his successors will not benefit from it.

Dominic Shellard, who earned £350,000 a year for running De Montfort University in Leicester quit his post without explanation in February.

Professor Shellard enjoyed membership of The Club at The Ivy in Covent Garden as part of his package. Who awarded him the perk is not clear.

Interim vice chancellor Prof Andy Collop said he had removed a number of privileges enjoyed by his predecessor following "listening sessions" arranged to hear employees' views about the way the university was being run.

Extra living accommodation that had been given to Shellard was also taken back by the University. It comes amid ongoing controversy over the generous remuneration packages of top university staff, with large pay rises being awarded to vice chancellors at universities, which sometimes have poor academic performance.

Lavish perks enjoyed by other vice chancellors have included stretch limos, Easter eggs and Fortnum & Mason hampers.

One university even paid £1,600 for its new vice chancellor’s pet dog, a Maltese called Oscar, to be relocated from Australia, a Channel 4 investigation found.

Shellard's salary rose from £286,000 in 2016-17 to £350,000 in 2017-18, when De Montfort University was ranked 82nd in the country by the Complete University Guide.

Prof Shellard, who had led the university since 2010, quit after the Office for Students, the sector's watchdog, said it was "looking into a number of regulatory matters" at De Montfort. The university had reported "an issue" to the office "in the autumn," the regulator said.

The OFS added there was "no presumption of wrongdoing by the university" and De Montfort said it was "happy to co-operate fully" with the investigation. The resignation is the third sudden departure of a vice-chancellor from a UK university in the past few months.

Swansea University's Professor Richard Davies, was suspended in November pending an investigation over an alleged conflict of interest.

Prof Davies denies any wrongdoing. Professor Nigel Weatherill, vice-chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, resigned in September with immediate effect, with little explanation given.

Prof Shellard's resignation came after several days of speculation about his future and the confirmation that the university's chair of governors, Ian Blatchford, had secretly resigned.

Under Prof Shellard's leadership, De Montfort boasted about being one of the fastest-growing institutions in higher education.

It invested heavily in new buildings, including a continuing £136m investment in its campus in the centre of Leicester.

The OFS did not elaborate on the precise nature of the issue it was investigating. However, the University and College Union, which represents higher education teaching staff, said the incident showed the time had come for a shake-up of governance at universities.

Prof Shellard could not be reached for comment on his resignation. Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, a think-tank, said Prof Shellard's resignation and other incidents suggested there were "questions to be asked" about universities' governance and how closely that was being monitored by governing bodies.