MSP Marra on University Crisis: Then and Now 

By Connor Bertie & Nick Whelan 

Fear of “more pain to come” in the short run for Dundee University says MSP Michael Marra. 

Having spent years working at the university, Mr Marra shared with TJJ his reflections of an institution on the brink of a financial crisis, and where its headed. 

Mr Marra worked at the University of Dundee for 14 years across two spells of employment. Prior to election, he worked as an academic holding the position of deputy director of the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science.  

Now the MSP for the north-east region, Mr Marra quickly climbed the ranks of the Scottish Labour party after the 2021 election. He has held the positions of shadow education secretary and now finance.  

Upon leaving his position in 2021 to pursue a career in politics, the seeds of the university’s worst crisis in its history had already been planted. Three years later, in November 2024, a £30m “black hole” was announced in the university’s finances, crippling the institution and plunging its future into uncertainly. 

“When looking back to when I left the university,” Mr Marra began, “I think it’s pretty evident now that in some regards, it was probably already in trouble. We just didn’t know it at the time. 

“There certainly was time to turn it around, but we had a leadership who were not paying proper attention to the finances of the institution. They weren’t even reading the management accounts or didn’t know how to. 

“The crunch came when International Student Recruitment numbers began to fall after the post covid bubble burst. 

“From the outside, when I left, the prospects were really good, but somewhere in the back of the spreadsheets the problems were already beginning to mount up.”  

The crisis is its 14^th month now, but going forward, Mr Marra hopes that the word “crisis” will be dropped in favour of another with a far more positive meaning, evident of an institution that has stabilised and got back on its feet.  

“My hope is that we won’t be calling it as much of a crisis, because the university will hopefully be able to get itself into a position where it has sight of a balance sheet that says that it will be a sustainable organization. 

“It’s not there yet, and that’s part of the real worry. There’s still quite a lot of work to be done to get it into that position. 

“In the short run, I’m afraid that it feels like there’s still an awful lot more pain to come for too many people before that future can be realised.” 

It is clear to Mr Marra that the Scottish government also have a key role to play in the handling and precipitation of the crisis. However, this view was not shared by the first minister.  

“At first, they just didn’t want anything to do with it” states Mr Marra, explaining that he had to convince the First Minister of the gravity of the situation faced by himself and his ministers before any serious action was taken. Education of course, is a matter of exclusive competence held by the Scottish Government since 1998. 

It is no secret that the higher education model in Scotland has faltered and cracked in recent years. Though Mr Marra argues this is not a coincidence, nor a new issue, stating the warning signs were visible years prior.  

“This is to do with the systematic underfunding of research and the massive cross-subsidy that was being demanded between international students and Scottish students. 

“The reason for that is that the amount of money allocated per student in Scotland has not risen for 15 years.” 

Mr Marra explained that the significant shortfall in funding faced by universities pushed them into making risky decisions in unstable markets, adding the university of Dundee is not alone. 

“So, you see what’s happening at Edinburgh University, Strathclyde have significant problems, Aberdeen have significant problems. Glasgow have had a massive decline in international students. 

“What’s happened in Dundee, in some respects, has masked some of the impacts in other institutions and Dundee’s particular problem was that bad management had spent all the [cash] reserves. 

“While other universities (facing shortfalls) were putting in recruitment freezes, Dundee continued to employ more people. 

“It was utterly senseless” 

Mr Marra has been tasked with writing Scottish Labours 2026 manifesto prior to the Scottish election in May. He has also championed local and national issues such as NHS Tayside’s Eljamel scandal and his ‘Injury Time’ campaign, endorsed by Sir Alex Ferguson.