Outgoing heads of polytechs and universities have received up to $117,000 on their last day of duty, latest figures reveal.
The State Services Commission released the pay bands of New Zealand tertiary education leaders this week, including payments traditionally labelled "golden handshakes".
The figures show that University of Auckland's vice-chancellor Prof Stuart McCutcheon saw his pay increase to $680,000, a $10,000 raise, while the heads of Massey, Otago and Canterbury all receive around $550,000.
AUT was lower, on $480,000, while Victoria University's head honcho received $520,000.
Some of the leaders, such as Dr Peter Brothers at Manukau Institute of Technology, took pay rises of up to $60,000. Chris Collins at EIT took a $50,000 pay rise .