Third-rate, second-rate and first-rate

A friend/colleague of mine has come up with the following wise saying:

The hallmark of a third-rate university is that they hire second-rate administrators with first-rate salary.

This came to my mind, recently, when I read this:

Hypocritical' principals get big pay rise

UNIVERSITY principals were accused of hypocrisy today after figures revealed they were given big pay increases while staff are facing redundancies.

The survey covering 2008-09 showed Professor Anton Muscatelli, the then principal of Heriot-Watt University, received the largest rise in Scotland – a 23.8 per cent increase from £168,000 in 2007-8 to £208,000 in 2008-9.

Professor Tim O'Shea at Edinburgh University took a 2.6 per cent cut but still received £223,000. Napier's Joan Stringer got a 7.9 per cent rise to £191,000. And Anthony Cohen at Queen Margaret had a 14 per cent rise to £171,000.

Mary Senior, of the University and College Union, said: "It is hypocritical to give themselves large rises while giving a ludicrous offer to the staff who do all the work."

A spokeswoman for Heriot-Watt said: "Principal Muscatelli joined on £160,000, a modest salary within the sector. By the start of 2008-9, he had implemented a visionary new strategic plan."