In the Middle Ages academics at Oxford and Cambridge were not paid salaries but were paid, often in food and drink, for each session of teaching. Even today, a master’s gown has long sleeves with deep pockets formerly used to carry payments in kind.
Academics are still paid badly, if not in food, then in subsistence salaries. Underpayment of academics is common worldwide and so it was not surprising to see a recent social media post claiming that a lecturer at a private university in Terengganu was earning just RM1,200 per month without EPF.