It’s fair to say that Tes’ coverage of the best-paid principals in the land has caused a stir - and not just south of Gretna Green.

With at least a dozen colleges forking out £200,000 or more for their leaders, the news must have come as a terrible shock to City of Glasgow College’s principal, Paul Little. Over the last few years, he has grown used to being singled out as Scotland’s best-paid college leader.

FErret suspects that Mr Little, who is not exactly known for his retiring nature, has also secretly enjoyed his status a tiny little bit. He is, after all, principal of Scotland’s only self-titled supercollege. City of Glasgow College, the sixth biggest in the UK in terms of income, has “an unrivalled global reach with 85 international partners and is widely recognised as one of the top colleges in the UK”. It says so here.

So FErret hopes Mr Little didn’t drop his Tunnocks Teacake in his Irn-Bru when he stumbled across the news that he’s a country mile behind some of his colleagues in England - some running colleges significantly smaller than his own.

While, yes, he’s comfortably ahead of his Scottish peers, earning £156,000 in 2015-16, some 42 colleges south of the border paid their leaders more in the same period.

In fact, some colleges with half the income of City of Glasgow’s spent significantly more on their principals than poor old Mr Little received for his work.

How many of them are world-class? Or have principals who have completed a £50,000 leadership course at Harvard? How many have two brand new super-campuses? Or have the winner of Masterchef: The Professionals on their payroll as a lecturer?

Had FErret suffered such a slight, he would have been on the phone to his college chair immediately, demanding a pay packet more in keeping with his illustrious reputation.

Share your gossip, scandal and intrigue with FErret by emailing ferret@tesglobal.com