Max Lu
Max Lu | |
---|---|
逯高清 | |
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Surrey | |
Assumed office April 2016 | |
Chancellor | Prince Edward, Duke of Kent |
Preceded by | Sir Christopher Snowden |
Personal details | |
Born | 逯高清 "Lù Gāoqīng" 8 November 1963 |
Education | Northeastern University (B.Sc.) University of Queensland (PhD) |
Occupation | Chemical engineer, nanotechnologist |
Salary | £344,000 (2021–22)[1] |
Gaoqing Max Lu
Early life and education
Lu was born in the countryside of Shandong, China. He obtained his bachelor's degree in engineering from Northeastern University in Shenyang. He subsequently received a scholarship from the University of Queensland in Australia, where he earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering.[3]
Career
Lu lectured at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore from 1991 to 1994, then held academic and leadership positions at the University of Queensland from 1994 to 2016. He began as a senior lecturer and ultimately became a chair professor. He founded the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials and served as its inaugural director for 8 years.[4] He is a fellow of many Australian educational and research boards, and has sat on several committees of its government.[5] In March 2016, Lu set aside funding for education students at the University of Queensland to be able to take pre-teacher literacy and numeracy tests paid for by the university.[6] He also contributed to a public safety campaign for Chinese tourists in Queensland.[7]
Lu was previously the
In August 2017, Professor Lu was appointed by
On his university managerial direction, Lu wrote in a 2019 University of Surrey-published blog post (about the humanities existing to support technological development) that he doesn't think the
Recognitions
United Kingdom
Lu has been appointed to the Boards of
Australia
Lu, who helped found and is a board member of the
International
Lu has also been given several awards from other nations or international bodies. They are: Orica Award, 2001;[28] Le Fevre Prize, 2002;[29] RK Murphy Medal, 2003;[30] ExxonMobil Award, 2007;[28] China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award, 2011;[31] Chemeca Medal, 2011;[28] Japan Chemical Society Lecture Award, 2015;[32] and the P.V. Danckwerts Lecture, 2016.[33] He was elected a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2019.[34]
Controversies
Dongying-Guildford twinning
The choice to twin Guildford, the town of the University of Surrey, and Lu's hometown of Dongying, as well as Lu's involvement in the process, was a subject of controversy for Guildford council in 2017. The Guildford Alderman the Hon. Bernard Parke noted that unlike the town's previous twinning agreement, the public and council consultations had been by-passed for the partnership with Dongying.[35] Other councillors also criticised the expedience, as they had not been informed of the intentions to twin with the city and had been in talks with other potential partners for some time, plans that had to be scrapped. Lu's involvement was criticised as lacking "openness and transparency", with some councillors also asserting that "due diligence" in the approval of the city had not been performed. The council leader Paul Spooner responded by saying that he had needed to act quickly in order to travel to China with Lu, and the whole council voted not to accept financial assistance for travel costs offered by Dongying.[36]
In June 2019, Lu's connection to Liaoning was being used by the county of Surrey to push a partnership for the county with the Chinese province.[37]
Queensland salary
In 2016, Lu's pay and bonuses at the University of Queensland, totalling AUS$736,600, came under fire in a piece discussing the university "crying poor ... [but giving] their senior executives larger and larger pay packets while doing everything in their power to squeeze the salaries of their employees"; the article noted that Lu and many of his peers earned more than the heads of government departments and business CEOs.[38]
University of Surrey
Criticism of salary and expenses
In 2018, Channel 4's Dispatches broadcast a report on the pay and expenses of British university officials, including revealing that Lu was given £1,600 to relocate his family dog. The University of Surrey responded by saying that this was "reasonable relocation expenses".[39] It was also reported that the university paid for Lu's membership to the elite Athenaeum Club, London, at £2,610 a year. The university claimed this was a "cost-effective" solution for Lu to have private meetings in London.[40] In an article about the documentary's findings, The Guardian listed various expenses but concluded that "Few, though, can beat the £1,600 spent on relocating a pet dog from Australia to Britain". Both the article and Robert Halfon MP compared the dog relocation expense to the "Duck Island" incident from a 2009 MP expense scandal.[41] The Spectator compared Professor Lu to the former Chinese Communist propaganda minister, Lu Wei, and said that though the relocation expense was "small change" it reflects the lack of moral authority in universities that strip lecturers of pensions and give students decades of debt.[42]
Also in the year, more controversy arose over Vice Chancellors' remuneration, with Lu among the highest paid in the UK. The university responded to the controversy by claiming that his pay had been overstated, and "insisted that the Office for Students should have stated the basic salary of [Lu] as £314,000 in 2017-18"; it had been stated as £364,000, with the Office for Students telling the Financial Times that "it was £364,000, including a £50,000 contribution to his pension".[43] Lu had taken a pay cut from his previous position in Australia when he moved to Surrey;[43] his total 2017/18 remuneration was £419,000.[44]
The controversy reappeared in early 2019, specifically for Lu, when the University of Surrey announced that they would have to fire staff because of a deficit.[45][46] The university magazine, The Stag, published an article titled 'Paygate: The Problem with Surrey's Vice-Chancellor', in which it compared his "performance-related bonuses" to the university's actual performance.[47]
Vote of no confidence
In May 2019, the staff and students of the University of Surrey held a
Personal life
Lu has children[13] and a pet Maltese dog named Oscar.[41]
In December 2018, Lu, who has previously advised the Chinese government, said that he supported the theory behind its new social policy but raised concerns over how efficiently it could be enforced.[51]
References
- ^ "Financial Statements for the Year to 31 July 2022". University of Surrey. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
- ^ "Professor Max Lu, University of Queensland".
- ^ "2019年荣誉院士-逯高清教授简介及赞辞". United International College (in Chinese). 12 July 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ "About Nanomaterials Centre - Nanomaterials Centre - The University of Queensland, Australia". nanomac.uq.edu.au. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- ^ "Max Lu". Festival of Higher Education. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- ^ "UQ to pay teacher test fees for education students".
- ^ "Public safety campaign aimed at Chinese tourists".
- ^ "University of Surrey appoints China-born nanotechnologist as next v-c". Times Higher Education (THE). 3 December 2015. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ "Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE)". atse.org.au. Archived from the original on 15 May 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ "University of Surrey appoints Professor Max Lu as its Vice-Chancellor". University of Surrey - Guildford. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ "University of Queensland Profile of Max Lu".
- ^ "New members of the Council for Science and Technology confirmed - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. 18 September 2017. Archived from the original on 19 September 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- ^ a b "Meet the man behind the University of Surrey's drive to gain more innovative research and partnerships". Get Surrey. 23 November 2017. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
- ^ "New University of Surrey v-c looks to China for industry links". 23 June 2016.
- ^ "Blog – Humanities in the age of technological innovation: a vision for Higher Education". University of Surrey VC blogs. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
- ^ "Board Members - UK Research and Innovation". www.ukri.org. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
- ^ "Deputy Lieutenants". www.surreylieutenancy.org. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- ^ "Transform Housing Patrons". Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- ^ "Honorary degrees for author, mountaineer and scientist".
- ^ "Academy welcomes leading UK and international engineers as new Fellows". Royal Academy of Engineering. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
- ^ "UQ celebrates success in Federation Fellowships". Archived from the original on 15 April 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- ^ Anonymous (22 April 2008). "Top researchers awarded ARC Federation Fellowships". www.arc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- ^ "Top 100 : 2013, Page 1". realviewtechnologies.com. Archived from the original on 15 April 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ "2013 Queensland Greats recipients". Queensland Government. Archived from the original on 31 May 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
- ^ "Australia-China Achievement Awards - winners and finalists announced". Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Archived from the original on 12 April 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ "Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia" (PDF). Australia Day 2017 Honours List. Governor-General of Australia. 26 January 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 November 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
- ^ "University of Surrey Vice-Chancellor awarded Officer in the general division of the Order of Australia". University of Surrey – Guildford. Archived from the original on 28 January 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
- ^ a b c "Previous Winners" (PDF). The Australian and New Zealand Federation of Chemical Engineers. 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 April 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- ^ "Le Fèvre Medal - Australian Academy of Science". www.science.org.au. Archived from the original on 20 April 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- ^ Past Officers and Award winners, Royal Australian Chemical Institute, 2017, p. 23, retrieved 15 April 2018
- ^ "China Announces 2011 International Science and Technology Cooperation Award---Chinese Academy of Sciences". english.cas.cn. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- ^ "Provost Max Lu honoured by The Chemical Society of Japan". Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- ^ "Chemical Engineering Science". Archived from the original on 15 April 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- ^ "2019年中科院院士增选结果揭晓,64人当选". The Paper. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
- ^ "Senior Council Delegation to Sign New Twinning Agreement in China".
- ^ "Guildford Borough Council delegation to fly to China and sign partnership agreement with city of Dongying after councillors approve plans". 12 October 2017.
- ^ "Surrey races to build links with Liaoning". China Daily. 5 June 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
- ^ "Universities cry poor while vice-chancellors make a motza".
- ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- ^ McKeon, Christopher (29 March 2018). "Uni paid vice-chancellor's £2,610 private members' club fee". getsurrey. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- ^ ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
- ^ "How British managers and Chinese communists are destroyed by the perks they take for granted". The Spectator. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
- ^ a b "Three top-paying universities cut vice-chancellor salaries". Financial Times. 18 February 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- ^ a b c "University of Surrey staff and students stage no confidence vote over staff and budget cuts". 16 May 2019.
- ^ "University offers redundancy to all staff". BBC. 1 March 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- ^ "University that spent £1,600 relocating the vice-chancellor's dog warns of £15m deficit". The Independent. 1 March 2019. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- ^ "Paygate: The Problem with Surrey's Vice-Chancellor". The Stag Surrey. 21 February 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- ^ a b "Damning vote of no confidence in University of Surrey vice-chancellor". www.ucu.org.uk. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
- ^ "University of Surrey all-staff Vote of No Confidence in the Vice-Chancellor and the Executive Board". 7 May 2019.
- ^ "No Confidence Referendum at Surrey – The Bigger Picture". Incite. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
- S2CID 56478756.