Rumours circulating over the weekend that Abertay University could be forced to merge with Dundee University have been quashed by the institution.
Officials at the Bell Street campus were quick to dismiss the speculation, which came about after a letter from the national body responsible for funding teaching and learning provision was sent to the union representing staff at Abertay.
In it the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC) asks the university court to undertake a “full evaluation and analysis of the role of the university going forward” and to suspend the process of recruiting a new principal in the meantime.
The letter does not make any reference to mergers with any other seat of learning.
A spokesman for Abertay stressed there are no merger plans being considered or discussed by anyone.
“The court is considering its response in the context of the university’s strategic plan for 2011-2015 for Abertay to continue ‘as a vibrant and independent university developing across several crucial and exciting areas’ and in the context of the Government’s white paper on post-16 education in Scotland, published last week (link), which could offer many opportunities for Abertay to continue to develop what it does best,” he said.
The latest unrest comes in the wake of the suspension and retiral of long-serving principal Professor Bernard King and a string of resignations by members of the university court.
The SFC funds Scotland’s colleges and 19 universities and higher education institutions.