As a former Rector of the University of Dundee, I was asked to sign a letter supporting the restoration of the student pantry and free breakfasts which have been cut as the institution struggles with a £30 million black hole.
The future of the institution is threatened.
A student wrote to me saying: “Many of the poorest students rely on these cost-of-living measures.
“At very short notice the university cut all funding, amounting to about £140,000 a year.
“This is very little compared to the third of a billion the university spends annually but the effect it will have on the students who rely on them will be heavy.”
The plea gives a flavour of the almighty mess university management has made of running things, with no sign of a rescue scheme on the horizon.
I’d ask those currently in charge, just what is their survival plan?
Have those who managed to take the institution to the brink of disaster got any workable ideas on how to save it other than swingeing job and course cuts, and slash-and-burn tactics which will penalise the poorest students?
With the university staring down the barrel of a £30m self-inflicted hole, those left holding the baby after Principal Iain Gillespie and Vice-Principal Wendy Alexander hot-footed it out of Dundee remain silent on whether they have any workable solutions to this grim situation
I’ve a suspicion they’ve no idea or interest in solving their cash crisis, assuming instead that the Scottish Government will ride to the rescue.
If that’s their solution, they may be on to a winner.
It would absolve them of any responsibility, since as many commentators have suggested, the university is too big to be allowed to fail.
University of Dundee incompetence
There’s little point in rehashing the incompetence which has got the university into this mess; what’s important is the plan to get out of it.
If they have no idea and are hoping for a taxpayer bailout, then just be honest and admit it.
That at least would show an element of the honesty and transparency which has been sadly lacking, and the absence of which is already doing significant harm to the standing and reputation of the university.
Of course, in admitting that they have no plans and are fully expecting to be saved from disaster by outside agencies, those on the university court who’ve been asleep at the wheel would also be in grave danger of damaging their own reputations beyond repair.
Now is the time for those in charge to be completely above board about how they intend to address the potential disaster they’ve managed to concoct.
Many potential students and their parents may already be having second thoughts about pursuing their studies at Dundee.
Might that have a knock-on effect meaning empty halls of residence and the reduced viability of some courses of study?
‘Government must step up’
Lecturers, researchers and other staff are seriously concerned about their futures and the best and brightest may well be contemplating other jobs and opportunities elsewhere.
And the Scottish Government must also be much more vocal about any plans they have to help out, amid a crisis for a university which is hugely important to not just Dundee, but Scotland.
Too many supposedly clever people have been involved in the oversight of this calamity and are acting like rabbits caught in the headlights as this potential car crash unfolds.
It’s time the rescue plan – if there is one – was unveiled.
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