Heather Anderson, MSP for Dundee City West, has called on the Education Secretary, Màiri McAllan to “urgently intervene” to analyse alternatives to current proposals from the University of Dundee.
Ms Anderson in a Facebook post said she is disappointed with the level of job losses announced by the University of Dundee and is “not convinced [they] are required to meet financial sustainability”.
She continues to say “Staff have not been treated with the respect they deserve” and is “deeply concerned that the consultation did not allow sufficient or meaningful engagement” with staff and trade unions.
The Jute Journal spoke with Heather Anderson in late July, where she spoke about similar concerns. We spoke to Ms Anderson about the proposed cuts facing the University of Dundee, the impact on students and the local communities.
Ms Anderson started by making it clear where she stood over the Strategy to Recovery.
“I stand completely with the unions in contesting these job losses.
“The announcement 40 odd days ago was extremely traumatic, not the best way to communicate with people.
“A meaningful consultation actually means taking on board people’s views, giving people an opportunity to represent alternatives, so it remains to be seen whether that has happened.”
When asked about the crisis facing the wider higher education sector in Scotland, Ms Anderson spoke about continuing to support free tuition and the impact of a Labour government in Westminster.
“In Scotland your entitlement to further education will be based on your ability to learn, not your ability to pay. So we are absolutely completely committed to continuing to fund tuition fees.
“The employers national insurance hike last year had a massive impact, and the hostile immigration policies are making it very difficult for universities to recruit students.”
On the £62 million from the Scottish Government, she spoke about the responsibility of the University to carry out the conditions that came with the money, as well as the conditions for funding from the Scottish Funding Council.
“The only scope we have is in ensuring that the terms of the award of the funding, the 62 million, are met. Part of the criteria were that there were no compulsory redundancies, so I know there’s ongoing discussions about the terms of the funding and whether those terms have been met.”
Ms Anderson spoke about the lack of transparency and communication with staff and students, especially during and after the Strategy to Recovery was shared.
“There is still a lack of transparency about the financial detail. Certainly in the paper today, the unions are saying that they have not been given all of the financial information they need to contest these job losses.”
Ms Anderson also spoke specifically about the proposed closure of the Botanic Gardens and Cooper Gallery.
“The Cooper Gallery and the Botanics have a year’s window where we can sort out a solution. So it’s vital that we do that, but it’s not as urgent as the people who are currently at risk of losing their jobs in the next week.
“That shouldn’t distract us from the fact there’s 190 plus people who are currently facing redundancy.”
One thing Ms Anderson spoke about as well was student services such as Counselling and Disability Services facing cuts.
“We can’t remove the support services which actually make the university the success that it is. There are minimum requirements that have to be met.
“It’s absolutely vital that we have people around, on hand, trained, qualified, skilled to help young people during the years of their university life.
“It’s a huge responsibility for staff. And if anything happens to any of the young people, they have to live with that for the rest of their life. Their job is to do this signposting and be supportive, but they shouldn’t be carrying the responsibility of that. That’s not their job.”
Ms Anderson spoke about the autumn framework called the Future Funding Framework, which looks at the whole sector and the future of financing universities in Scotland. The Government and Universities Scotland are working on this framework to review the future of higher education.
“I don’t think the system’s broken and I’m hoping this framework review that’s going to come out in autumn will address some of those issues, because universities are not just factories for producing widgets. They’re places of learning and thinking and innovation and exploration.
“If we lose the sense of the university being at the heart of the town and the heart of learning and thinking and imagination and creativity and contribution, that would be disastrous.”
Ms Anderson also spoke directly to Court members, who are due to meet on September 8th to discuss the findings from the consultation and are expected to sign off on the proposed cuts.
“They have to ensure they’ve got full paperwork in front of them. So if they feel that they haven’t been given sufficient information, every one of those court members has the responsibility of saying, I don’t have enough information to make a robust decision here.
“They have to make sure that they are being properly advised about the full implications of the decisions that they are taking.”
Finally, Ms Anderson shared her message for students and staff.
“My main message is I’m standing with students and staff. It has been such a difficult period.
“My thoughts are with them and hopefully we can get some clarity and transparency about what happens next.”