Career opportunities for senior academics at Lancaster University will be better than ever now that a unique package of incentives is to be introduced.

The new scheme approved by the university on Friday 25 May, includes a minimum starting salary for professors, 5k above the national minimum, and a transparent career progression route designed to attract and keep the brightest academic leaders and make it easier for talented staff to progress.

Three distinct bands for professors will make it easier to work towards promotion. Lancaster is establishing a new senior group of ‘distinguished professors’. This category will be reserved for a limited number of star academics who are internationally recognised as world leaders in their field.

Advancement will be based on an individual’s profile and impact on their discipline, making a fair system across all disciplines.

Lancaster’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Wellings said: “Lancaster’s new reward scheme recognises we are competing in a global marketplace for academics who are talented, career conscious and highly mobile. The high research and teaching reputation of Lancaster University has already attracted outstanding Professors. We intend to continue this and to provide an equitable performance driven system for promoting and rewarding those who contribute to the knowledge of their subject areas.”