COURIER OPINION: Dundee University must resolve industrial action and get on with delivering for the city

By The Courier

November 15 2022, 10:43am

Striking workers outside Dundee University. Image: Steve MacDougall.

For weeks now, a picket line has been sustained outside of the University of Dundee.

Concerns over a pensions deal and pay have motivated staff to stand outside come rain or shine to push their cause for better terms and conditions.

It is hard to feel anything but sympathy for their plight, especially when reading a new economic report which details the university’s impact on this area.

photo shows striking staff holding a banner saying 'Dundee University say no to pension poverty'. — Striking Dundee University staff. Image: Unite.

The report is full of big numbers – a total of 6,760 jobs supported in Dundee alone and a gross vale added of £449 million being just two of them.

That may sound like rude economic health, but not everything in the garden is rosy.

Dundee has still to crack the nut of keeping hold of the talent it fosters through its higher education institutions and retaining a greater proportion of the wealth created.

image shows two young women in gowns throwing their mortar boards in the air as part of a large group of graduating Dundee University students outside the Caird Hall. — Celebrations at last years’s Dundee University winter graduation ceremony. Image: Kim Cessford / DC Thomson.

Building those revenue streams would help keep Dundee University – and hopefully by turn those whose livelihoods depend on it – in a more healthy place than they are today.

And it would also help sustain a wider city economy which is suffering right now and crying out for all the help it can get.

Dundee University must unlock its potential

One telling statistic is that of the £765 million of investment raised by spinout companies in 2020 only £20 million was retained in the city.

In a time where short term priorities are hogging the limelight, it can be hard to lift up the eyes and look at long term strategies.

Today we release our economic impact assessment report, which reveals how much value the University adds to the economy locally, nationally, and globally.https://t.co/5crl3O6DUE pic.twitter.com/VC4Q9r0fQB

— University of Dundee (@dundeeuni) November 14, 2022

Dundee University is right therefore to be thinking in those terms and putting in place a strategy that can deliver for the city for years to come.

But it also needs to address the here and now and find a resolution to the industrial unrest that is currently dogging its every move and public pronouncement.

To deliver top class education results, produce incredible research and build out a strong local business base, it needs everyone onboard and sailing in the same direction.