Dundee University has become a symbol of the challenges facing UK higher education. Edinburgh University’s paper The Student recently ran the headline: “We must make sure we’re not the next Dundee.”


The university is still grappling with a financial crisis, and attention is now turning to what could happen over the next semester and academic year.


University Responds to Rejection of Recovery Plan
This week, Acting Chair of Court, Iain Mair released the university’s response to the Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) rejection of the new recovery plan.
“In the spirit of transparency and open governance,” he said, “both letters can now be shared so you are aware of the ongoing dialogue about the University’s recovery.”


As can be seen in her letter, Francesca Osowska, Chief-Executive of the SFC declared that the proposed long-term actions highlighted in the new recovery plan was “inappropriate” coming from a temporary UEG team.


In response, Mair has stated the university’s intent to appoint a permanent Principal to carry on the period of recovery, and “move into a new phase of engagement with staff and students.” However, he has also said that this will be done in a way that doesn’t “unreasonably constrain” the future permanent Principal.


Despite the rejection, a loan of £12m from the SFC has been transformed into a grant, to be used with any additional “future funding package.”


Recovery Plan Under Pressure
The immediate focus for the University is on a new recovery plan.
As stated previously, the SFC rejected the UEG’s most recent plan on 18 August and instead asked the university to “name its price” for keeping the institution afloat.


The SFC has already provided two support packages amounting to £62m. Despite the £12m additional grant mentioned above, no further funding has yet been announced, and it is understood that another recovery plan is in development – though its details remain unclear.


Mergers and Restructuring
Two major concerns are dominating student and staff discussions: the possibility of further strikes and the potential restructuring of the university’s eight schools into three wider faculties.


Last semester, former UEG members, including ex-Principal Shane O’Neill, proposed merging the schools as part of a cost-cutting plan. The university has provided little information about whether this proposal is still going ahead.


In a Jute Journal survey, most students said they believed the merger would eventually take place.

 “There’s a really high chance it might happen, but not immediately,” one student said. “Schools have shifted before.”

Strike Action Looms
The Dundee branch of the University and College Union (UCU) has balloted members for further strike action this semester, with results yet to be announced.
Melissa D’Ascenzio, co-president of Dundee UCU, said:

“By the end of September, we will have lost more than 400 colleagues – through voluntary severance, retirement, end of contract etc.

“In good conscience, we cannot support a plan that advocates for more job losses.”

Students expressed frustration about the impact of strike action on their education.


Responses to the Jute Journal survey included:

  • “There will be no help or guidance with my final-year project or a structured class schedule.”
  • “No classes, less support from lecturers, waste of my money.”
  • “My education will be ruined. My grades will see an impact.”

DUSA President, Tánaiste Custance, said:

“It is no wonder that staff are considering striking given the ongoing failure to sort out a viable recovery.

“I fear that staff and students are becoming a political football between the management and the Scottish Government and political parties.

“This is totally unacceptable.”

Difficult Choices Ahead
A senior financial expert, known as “Bean Counter,” said that the university needs to adjust the staff-student ratio:

“They’ve got to get the ratio of staff to students down. There are two ways to do that — bring in more students without increasing staff or, more likely, reduce the number of staff.


“I would also look at the financial performance of the eight schools, and if any were significantly poor, I would close them down.”

As a result, two outcomes appear likely in the coming academic year: further strike action and a gradual move towards merging the eight schools into three faculties.

A Long Road to Recovery

Students and alumni remain pessimistic about the timeline for recovery. In response to our question ‘how long till Dundee University gets back on its feet?’ One graduate said,

“I think a few years — I worry for the validity of my degree,”

Another added:

“At least a decade for it to actually recover. The scale of the debacle is just so immense.”

Custance added:

“We all deserve a democratic university, one that sees students, staff and the wider Dundee community as resourceful collaborators in the future of the university.”