Dundee University’s huge financial crisis is now the subject of an independent probe.
The struggling institution has a £35 million deficit and threatened to make 632 job redundancies.
University bosses are under fire for their role in the escalating crisis.
Principal Shane O’Neill appeared at an extraordinary Holyrood committee on March 19.
The investigation – commissioned by the Scottish Funding Council – is being led by Professor Pamela Gillies and will take two months once her team is appointed.
Here’s seven key questions the fresh probe is set to ask.
1 – Was there a cover-up?
The independent probe will examine whether the university’s senior leadership team sought to hide the scale of the financial catastrophe.
The institution’s troubles came as a shock when the multi-million black hole was revealed in November last year.
University bosses, including Principal Iain Gillespie, quit shortly afterwards as the scandal grew.
The probe will ask if managers “sought to suppress information about the magnitude of the financial situation”.
2 – Why were university finances mismanaged?
Dundee University managers say they would have run out of cash by June without lifeline support.
The probe, being led by Professor Pamela Gillies, will look at why the institution “failed to manage its cash prudently, allowing it to deteriorate to critically low levels”.
Investigators also want to know if budgets relied on “unrealistic savings or income targets” and if investments made by the university were ever sustainable.
3 – What caused the financial crisis?
Bosses blame a decline in international student numbers for the £35 million deficit.
Investigators will look at whether “external factors” hitting the university’s pockets are primarily to blame.
The probe will also ask whether poor internal governance and internal financial management was ultimately responsible.
4 – Has the university bungled its response?
Investigators will ask whether “executive or governance failures” since November “inhibited” Dundee’s recovery.
Furious university staff went on strike over the proposed job cuts.
And the departure of senior leaders left a vacuum at the top of the institution.
5 – Were staff gagged from speaking out?
The investigation’s report into the crisis also intends to explore “cultural issues”.
That will include whether staff at the university “felt unable to raise concerns” about the scope of the institution’s woes.
Prof Gillies and her team plan to speak to members of staff while probing the scandal.
Employees are also encouraged to give useful evidence to the investigation.
6 – What role did the university court play?
The probe is set to ask why internal bodies – such as the university court – were left in the dark for so long.
The court is supposed to oversee the work of the university and scrutinises the executive team.
But they were blindsided by the scale of the black hole and only found out how bad the situation was last November.
Former chair Amanda Millar quit in February.
A final report will also ask if the court failed in its own governing duties.
7 – What lessons can be learned?
The Scottish Funding Council hopes the probe will allow Dundee University to “learn lessons” about what went wrong.
The Dundee institution is not the only Scottish university in crisis and facing job losses.
It’s expected the findings of the investigation will be “beneficial” for the wider higher education sector at a time of difficulty.
Conversation