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When it comes to upstairs-downstairs inequality, the modern Alberta university makes Downton Abbey look like a commune.

Alberta’s new post-secondary sunshine list data, made fully public late last week, shows that Alberta’s university administrators are the best paid in the country, with many earning between $400,000 and $600,000.

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To put that in context, we learned that the president of the University of Lethbridge earns more than the president of the University of Toronto, the president of NorQuest College earns more than the president of the University of British Columbia and the head of Olds College earns about the same as the head of McGill.

At the University of Alberta, there are some 50 people on staff earning more than $300,000 a year, from vice-presidents to associate professors.

But while people atop the academic pyramid are well-compensated, universities in Alberta, like universities all across North America, rely on poorly paid contract or sessional lecturers to do much of their teaching.