Only the newest of Scotland's 13 universities, the University of Abertay Dundee, has revealed its principal's salary, a year before being required to do so, according to figures from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council.

Under an unwritten agreement among the eight traditional universities, they will not publish senior salaries until this becomes a condition of their SHEFC grant.

The four institutions which became universities when the binary divide disappeared have also not disclosed their figures. Only nine smaller institutions, as listed in the table, have given salary data to SHEFC, Union leaders condemned the universities' reticence, particularly as more than 80 English higher education institutions chose to publish vice chancellors' pay in their latest financial statements.

"I feel the Scottish universities would now be well advised to declare these salaries voluntarily in the public interest," said David Bleiman, assistant general secretary of the Association of University Teachers.

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Jack Dale, further and higher education secretary, said: "We are concerned that principals are being given substantial rises when our members are being forced to accept settlements falling behind those in comparable professions. This lets suspicions build up that something untoward is happening."

Bernard King, principal of UAD, which became a university a year ago, said: "There was a steer last year that this information should be in the public domain, and we simply put it in the public domain."

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None of the salaries approaches the six-figure packages revealed by many English universities. Professor King, whose salary in the 1993/94 accounts was Pounds 64,000, is the highest-paid principal among the institutions which have given details to SHEFC.

In two cases the salary is for the highest-paid staff member or governor, assumed to be the principal or director.

Mr Dale said some of the salaries were relatively modest, but there was a tremendous gap between principals and the staff who carried the responsibility for institutional quality.

* Staff in the former central institutions and colleges of education have put in a 6 per cent pay claim.

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The management side says it cannot make an offer until institutions have fully analysed the latest funding allocations, but has warned that funding is very tight.

Institution................... Salary declared in 1993/94 accounts

Glasgow School of Art......... Pounds 58,000 RSAMD..........................Pounds 53,815 Scottish College of Textiles...Pounds 49,136 Edinburgh College of Art...... Pounds 53,000 Moray House................... Pounds 61,000 Queen Margaret College........... Pounds 61,250 Northern College of Education.... Pounds 58,074 St Andrews College of Education.. Pounds 46,755 University of Abertay Dundee..... Pounds 64,000