Months after Dundee University first announced a whopping £30 million deficit, there is no clarity as to why it occurred in the first place, and little in the way of accountability of those responsible for such a colossal loss of money.
Instead, university managers have refused to take compulsory redundancies of dedicated frontline staff off the table.
As reported in The Courier, we may be facing as many as 500 staff cuts, out of a headcount of 3,000.
My own role as a professor of law is at risk.
It is for these reasons – a lack of governance reform and the ongoing threat of compulsory redundancies – that members of the University and College Union have decided to take industrial action for three weeks.
Staff ‘don’t take decision to strike lightly’
We know that strikes are disruptive, and we do not take such a decision lightly. We’re dedicated to giving our students an excellent education; producing world-class research and having a broader impact on the community in Dundee.
We also lose pay for every day we go on strike.
But staff have been put in an impossible situation thanks to the fiasco created by the university executive.
Apparent financial mismanagement has created the biggest crisis the institution has ever seen while the university court has failed to provide proper oversight and scrutiny of a gargantuan failure of management.
Staff – and students – are not to blame for this mess.
But with a hiring freeze already in place, staff retiring or leaving for other jobs and not being replaced, and morale at rock bottom, it is us who are bearing the brunt of the bad decisions.
A pressing need for governance reform and concrete safeguards are needed to ensure such a situation is never repeated. This is key to the university’s long-term future.
Compulsory redundancies, transparency and meaningful negotiation at heart of strike demands
Meanwhile, trade unions and the larger university community remain shut out from discussions that university managers are having with the Scottish Funding Council, banks and others about how to dig themselves out of the financial hole.
Our strike action – beginning February 24 – will be based on three specific demands.
- No compulsory redundancies
- Transparency about the University’s financial situation
- Meaningful negotiation, so that staff and students have a genuine voice in shaping the institution’s future.
So far, the University Executive Group has not made any meaningful progress on any of this.
We still do not know precisely why this deficit arose, and why so suddenly, given that staff were told in mid-2024 that the University of Dundee was in a relatively good financial position.
‘We will stand down if university take compulsory redundancies off the table’
It is far from clear that staff costs are the cause of the deficit, and that redundancies will solve anything in this situation.
We feel so strongly about this that we will stand down our action if the university executive group takes compulsory redundancies off the table.
A lack of transparency from management has discredited this entire process, with staff finding out key information through leaks to the media rather than directly from our leaders.
Indeed, we have recently discovered – from the press – that the situation in Dundee is particularly acute and worse than other Scottish universities, which are all facing downturns in international student numbers and therefore income.
What has gone wrong at Dundee and who knew what when?
Until these questions can be answered, how can it be right to go ahead with a huge cut to jobs and livelihoods?
I have a strong connection to the University of Dundee dating back to before I came to work here – my mother studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design and my uncle studied at Dundee College of Education, housed in the Scrymgeour building where I now have my office.
They have reminisced fondly about their time in Dundee and are very proud that I became a professor at this institution.
We need to ensure that another generation of my family and many others have the opportunity to be part of this community.
‘Fight to save body and soul of university’
The University of Dundee must continue to make a positive contribution – socially, culturally and economically – to the wider city of Dundee. Hundreds of redundancies affect not only those who lose employment but also the wider community.
Public money must be used to rebuild, not dismantle our institution.
It is for these reasons we are taking industrial action – to fight the cuts and save the body and soul of the University of Dundee for our own generation and for those of the future.
Angela Daly is professor of law and technology at the University of Dundee and honorary secretary of the Dundee branch of the University and College Union.
Conversation