Sir Peter Mathieson is also the director of five companies and doesn’t know his own salary.
University of Edinburgh vice-chancellor and principal Sir Peter Mathieson racked up £42,456 on flights to destinations including South Africa, South Korea, the US and Hong Kong between March 2022 and May last year.
THE BOSS of a cash-strapped university, who claims he doesn’t know his £421,667 salary, owns a luxury apartment in Wimbledon while living rent-free in a grace and favour townhouse.
University of Edinburgh vice-chancellor and principal Sir Peter Mathieson and his wife own the plush home located in one of the most prestigious postcodes.
Situated within walking distance of the All England Club, apartments can rent for up to £7000 a week during the Wimbledon tennis event.
The couple bought the house for £665,000 in 2014 and is now estimated to be worth up to £1million.
Mathieson lives in a five-bedroom £1.7million townhouse in Edinburgh’s Regent Terrace owned by the university.
He has repeatedly refused to give up the paid-for accommodation despite staff facing cuts at his institution as part of plans to save £140million.
The revelations come after we told how Mathieson had racked up £47,000 on luxury overseas junkets in two years.
Our investigation also reveals he is a director of five companies alongside his university job and says he still does not know how much he is paid.
Trade unions and politicians have called for Mathieson, who admitted his wages ignorance during a brutal grilling by MSPs last month, to quit.
Douglas Ross MSP.
Tory MSP and education committee convener Douglas Ross said: “Staff and students will be outraged to learn Sir Peter has access to another plush residence while refusing to give up his capital home.
“At a time when job cuts are looming large at the university, it is hugely concerning that someone so detached from reality is principal.”
Appearing at a Holyrood committee last month, the principal – who took up the role in 2018 – refused to sell the university’s luxury house to help with the institution’s funding issues.
Despite claiming he didn’t know his salary, he said he was “certainly very well paid’, adding that giving up the capital home, which includes all utility bills, maintenance costs and his own driver, wouldn’t make a difference.
The plan is to cut hundreds of jobs to save £90million instead and save a further £50million from capital budgets.
Mathieson said it was up to others to judge if his remuneration was suitable. Asked weeks after appearing in Holyrood whether he had learned what his salary was, the uni boss , 66, said: “I can go and get the documents and show you but I don’t carry the number in my head.”
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Uniosn higher education spokesman John Mooney said: “Edinburgh University staff live with the threat of jobs cuts and they worry about whether they can afford a home.
“But the high paid principal gets luxury accommodation rent free despite owning his own home in one of the most sought-after postcodes in the country.
When livelihoods are on the line senior managers should lead and do everything they can to save on their luxuries before they cut jobs.” Mathieson has also taken on roles in two private companies and holds three directorships in university-associated organisations. Last year he set up a company, Darcy Consulting Edinburgh Limited, with his orthodontist wife.
And he took on a third job last month when he joined the board of biotechnology company Roslin Cell Therapies in a role that could net him up to £50,000 a year.
Asked about the five directorships, Mathieson said: “People suggest all sorts of things. But a lot of those roles are part of the job so whoever was principal of the University of Edinburgh would have those roles. I take leave for any work that I do for Roslin Cell Therapies. It’s not a huge time commitment. I do it in my own time.”
A university spokeswoman said the principal’s “personal assets are entirely independent of the university” but didn’t explain why the Wimbledon home hadn’t been declared on his register of interests.
She refused to say whether Mathieson earned any income from the property.
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