In Education: Union-Backed Study Details Salaries at Elite Mass. Schools

A survey of executive pay at elite Massachusetts universities found more than 20 salaries of $1-million or more and dozens of top officials earning more than $500,000 a year, the Boston Herald reports.

The state’s 20 best-endowed institutions paid $157-million to 339 officers, directors, and designated “key employees” in 2009, according to the study by the Tellus Institute.

Nine of the 10 most biggest paychecks went to officers of the Harvard Management Company, which oversees the university’s endowment, topped by $6.4-million for Stephen Blyth, a co-managing director.

“We decided to find out what the administrators earn so that we would not have to shoulder the blame for high tuition,” said Wayne Langley of SEIU Local 615, the union representing university custodians, security guards, and tradesmen, which helped sponsor the report.

Universities contacted by the Herald defended their pay policies.

Jack Dunn, a Boston College spokesman, said senior officials’ salaries, set by university trustees, “are market-based and reflect the salary range of executives at competitor schools.” (To see more about salaries of a wide range of nonprofit executives, go to the just-issued report from The Chronicle.)

In other education news, Purdue University will receive $10-million over five years from a Chinese conglomerate to support international programs and training for the company’s staff, writes the Journal and Courier of Lafeyette, Ind.

The deal signed Monday with Nanshan Group will support study-abroad programs, scholarships for Chinese students, and research and consulting opportunities for Purdue faculty members at the firm’s Yantai Nanshan University.

Purdue faculty will also conduct training for employees and officials at Nanshan, a subsidiary of which is set to open an aluminum-extrusion plant in Lafeyette. Lijun Du, president of Nanshan America Company, is a graduate of the Indiana university.