Professor Nigel Seaton, the Interim Principal of the University of Dundee, has had his last day in office and now makes way for his successor, Angela Scott.
The Jute Journal (TJJ) had an exclusive interview with Professor Seaton, in which he said:
“Naturally, I would say I have left the University in a better place [than it was found]. My job has been to save the University from bankruptcy, and we have saved the University from bankruptcy”.
Professor Seaton has overseen rounds of voluntary severance, voluntary redundancies and initialising the process of compulsory redundancies, in order to mitigate the University’s financial crisis, something which he said has been successful in doing.
Professor Seaton sent a farewell message to all students and staff in which he stated:
“When I was asked to take on the role of Interim Principal in June 2025, the Gillies Report had just been published, and the University was at risk of insolvency.”
Professor Seaton has overseen rounds of voluntary severance, voluntary redundancies and initialising the process of compulsory redundancies, in order to mitigate the University’s financial crisis, something which he said has been successful in doing.
Professor Seaton’s email further stated:
“These have been very difficult changes to make, but we have done what we had to do. The University is now on a sustainable path, no longer at risk of insolvency, and we can look to the future with confidence.”
“It has been an honour to serve as your Principal. I will continue to follow the University’s progress from close by, as I will continue to live in Dundee, and I hope I might bump into you from time to time in the city.”
Former Chief Executive of Aberdeen City Council, Angela Scott, will formally take her role as principal on Monday, 19 October. Until then the University Secretary, Hulda Svensdottir, will temporarily take the post of Accountable Officer.
A leaving lunch for Professor Seaton was organised, and the Students Against Cuts group staged a small protest during it. They held up posters to the windows and drew anti-cuts messaging outside the luncheon at the Old Medical School.
A spokesperson from Students Against Cuts said that:
“SAC members staged a small protest outside Nigel Seaton’s goodbye lunch, chalking the entrance with anti-cuts slogans and sticking anti-cuts posters to the windows. We felt it appropriate that during his farewell, Nigel was reminded of the damage he has done to this university.”
Scottish Labour leader, Michael Marra, told TJJ that incoming Principal Angela Scott has a ‘huge job’ ahead of her.
“She needs to restore this institution to the place of civic pride, of position in the international marketplace.
“It can be the powerhouse for the local economy that it has been for generations, and I think the fundamentals of that are all still sound. Morale is low and [Principal Scott] has a big job to do.