Dundee University principal Shane O’Neill admits there has been “incompetence” at the top of institution as MSPs were told it could run out of cash by June.
On Wednesday, members of the Scottish Parliament’s education committee learned of the scale of the crisis at the university.
Acting court chair Tricia Bey told MSPs: “We’re actually in a very grave cash crisis.
“Without the very welcome liquidity support from the SFC, we will run out of cash at the end of June.”
Court chair ‘baffled’ by crisis after being told university would break even
Ms Bey admitted to being “baffled” by the situation, saying court had been told prior to late 2024 that the university was in a “break even” position.
Professor Shane O’Neill said there had been “misleading” information about the university’s financial situation that only became clear in November.
He repeated his warning the institution could cease to exist without dramatic changes.
Asked if there had been incompetence at the top of university, the principal said: “You could say that perhaps.
“There were gaps in the competence that you would expect in the leadership.”
He said these failures would be subject to the external investigation which has now been commissioned.
Asked by committee convener Douglas Ross if there had been any criminality, Mr O’Neill said: “I haven’t seen any evidence, and nobody with any professional expertise in the area has alerted me to that.
“We’re asking those questions. So we’re open to that.”
In an explosive evidence session interim finance director Helen Simpson revealed she raised serious concerns about the university’s financial position at the end of her first day in the job.
“On arriving at the university, I was extremely concerned that what I found,” Ms Simpson says.
Finance chief raised serious concerns of first day in role
She told MSPs she raised these concerns at the end of her first day.
She added: “It quite quickly became apparent that university would not have sufficient cash to get itself through to the end of financial year.”
The interim finance director also confirmed University House, the property where the former principal resided, is going on the market.
MSPs also quizzed the panel of senior figures on the recovery plan, which proposed cutting 632 full-time equivalent roles in a bid to plug a £35 million deficit.
Mr O’Neill said this would save the university around £49 million in salary costs, though could not give a total headcount of how many staff would be impacted.
The principal also confirmed that the university would not go ahead with plans to hire a £200,000 transformation director.
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