Oxford University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey, has spent a total of £47,564.97 on expenses since her appointment in January 2023, Cherwell can reveal. The majority of these expense claims cover flights in an apparent contradiction of Oxford University’s own sustainability policies.
A Freedom of Information request showed that most of these expenses pertained to travel, with claims for over £25,000 spent on flights, £12,000 on rail and car transportation, as well as over £5,000 on hotel stays. Additionally, £1,350 was spent on the purchase of “gifts”. These costs are considered part of the Vice-Chancellor’s responsibilities and in addition to her baseline salary of £423,407.
Some of the Vice-Chancellor’s air travel appears in tension with the University’s travel policy, which was implemented in August 2022 as part of its wider Environmental Sustainability Strategy to achieve net zero carbon by 2035. The travel policy requires an “additional approval process” for premium economy or business class air travel.
Tracey’s largest expense claims were made for a series of business class flights to the USA. These began in April 2023, when Tracey claimed £5,456 for flights there, and again in July of that year, when £7,210 was claimed for the same journey. The largest claim was made in June 2024 for flights between London and New York, which cost £8,817.
With specific reference to these flights, the University press office elaborated: “Long haul flights are taken in business class – not in first class. The Vice-Chancellor has declined other expenses to which she is entitled.” Yet this would still appear to contradict the case-specific “approval process” stipulated in the University’s travel policy.
Domestic flights from London to Glasgow and Edinburgh, made in May 2023 and May 2024 respectively, are also in tension with another stipulation of the University’s travel policy, which refers to the use of domestic flights within the UK for business travel as “not permitted”.
The policy specifies that “rail should be used for all domestic journeys under seven hours”, and does not include Scotland on its list of domestic exceptions. The headline data provided by the University in response to Cherwell’s FOI only referred to “ground transportation”, failing to distinguish train and private car journeys.
The Vice-Chancellor has also claimed thousands of pounds on hotel accommodation around the world, including a hotel stay in August 2023 worth over £1,600 in the USA, and accommodation in Mumbai totalling to £1,700 in December 2023.
An investigation by the i newspaper into expenses incurred by university vice-chancellors nationally reported that the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) clocked up the highest expense bill, with its Vice-Chancellors claiming over £80,000 over the past two years.
By comparison, Tracey’s expense claims are markedly lower than LSE’s and also those of her predecessor, former Vice-Chancellor Prof Louise Richardson. In 2023, the University paid out record compensation of over £1 million to Vice-Chancellors Tracey and Richardson, notably including a payout for Richardson equivalent to a year’s salary “in lieu of sabbatical”.
During the first year and a half of her tenure – a period similar to that of current Vice-Chancellor Tracey’s – Richardson attracted criticism for racking up over £70,000 in expenses, including long-haul flights and luxury hotel stays.
The University of Oxford said in response: “Oxford University is ranked as the world’s strongest university for its teaching, research and impact. Additionally, it generates billions annually for the UK economy.
“To support this achievement, the Vice-Chancellor builds global research and education partnerships, secures donations funds from supporters around the world and helps recruit the outstanding academics and students who are vital to Oxford’s success.
“The Vice-Chancellor’s work in keeping the University as a world leader is continual, involving large-scale engagement with current and potential academic partners, funders and donors, and extensive worldwide travel. As such, these expenses have all been incurred legitimately in the cause of keeping Oxford at the forefront of the worldwide advancement of learning and research.”
