SCOTTISH ministers have been accused of getting their sums wrong over plans to pay key university officials.

Under proposed new legislation the chairs of universities' powerful ruling Courts are to be remunerated for the first time.

The Higher Education (Scotland) Governance Bill suggests chairs should be paid £512 a day and estimates the number of days worked as five or six - based on the number of Court meetings a year.

The Scottish Government's explanatory memorandum on the Bill states: "It is anticipated that modest costs associated with this provision will be absorbed within existing budgets of higher education institutions.

"Attributing this to all higher education institutions..... would suggest a cost..... of £3,072 per annum which, when multiplied by the 18 higher education institutions affected by this provision of the Bill, would equate to a total approximate cost of £55,296 per annum."

However, documents from individual universities suggest the average amount of time worked by university chairs can be more than 50 days a year resulting in an actual cost to the sector of at least £460,000 if these days were also subject to payment.

Universities Scotland, which represents university principals, said the underestimation of the amount of time worked by chairs showed a "lack of sound analysis".

A spokeswoman said: "The Bill significantly underestimates the time commitment required of chairs. The role is of vital importance in a university's system of governance and chairing the governing body, which meets four or five times a year, is only a very small part of their responsibilities.

"Universities typically ask their chairs for a time commitment of around 50 days a year. This is realistic, yet the Bill's financial memorandum estimates a commitment of only six days a year.

"If chairs were to give only six days' worth of commitment to their universities good governance would not be strengthened, it would be massively undermined."

Universities Scotland went on to warn that the issue over remuneration was an example of wider fears over the Bill.

The spokeswoman added: ""Practically speaking this means the financial assumptions made in the Bill are way off and we are concerned at the lack of sound analysis. But the time and money is not the real problem. It is symptomatic of a much wider set of problems with the Bill which need a lot more thought.

"If passed in its current form the Bill would cut across a lot of existing legislation and good practice and could work to undermine aspects of the strong system of governance we already have in higher education. We are raising these concerns with the Scottish Government. We hope it will be open to what we have to say."

Liz Smith, young people spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, accusing ministers of a "complete lack of understanding" of the work of university chairs.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said the payments had been calculated on the basis of chairing court meetings.

She said: "Reference to the days worked by a chair in the financial memorandum to the Bill focuses squarely on chairing meetings of the court. The Bill sets out a new power for Scottish ministers to oblige institutions to remunerate chairs for this work for the first time.

"Other duties carried out by chairs will vary by institution." She said they would consider all constructive suggestions.