Market and Merit Factors in the Determination of Academic Salaries

Abstract

This paper examines the criteria and decisions of the Academic Salaries Tribunal and its predecessors with reference to the question of whether imposed uniformities have unduly limited the ability of universities to take account of market conditions for various disciplines and to provide adequate incentives and rewards for outstanding performance. Types and degrees of uniformity and their causes are reviewed and data are presented regarding the internal and external competitiveness of the university salary structure. This data and a chi square analysis of rank structure by discipline lead to the conclusion that university administrators have not been unduly constrained in matching the supply of and demand for academic personnel. Academic salaries were found to be competitive with those of major English-speaking countries and domes tically competitive with those in public and private sectors. Most important, the paper concludes that university administrators have been able to dis criminate in favour of "short-supply" disciplines and thus have been able to overcome many of the problems arising from a uniform rank and salary struc ture and from lack of authority to provide discretionary salary increases in significant amounts.