What future for the University of Dundee?

Stuart Fairweather sets the latest developments at the University of Dundee in wider context.

The end of August saw the publication of a Scottish Government / Universities Scotland report authored by Professor Anton Muscatelli. The Future Framework for Universities is a serious attempt to outline the pressures on - and possibilities for - Scotland’s higher education institutions.

The report, the first ‘pillar’ of ongoing work, focusses on diagnosing the financial issues impacting universities. Further pillars will address potential solutions.

It is telling and welcome that Muscatelli, in media interviews announcing the report, has clearly emphasised the role of trades unions as stakeholders in the Future Framework process. 

The ‘partnership’ nature of Future Framework is typical of the approach that the Scottish Government, and much of Scottish civil society, takes to significant issues facing our economy and our society more generally. 

Arguably this approach to sectoral level issues, both influences - and stands in contrast to - the experience of the ongoing crisis at the University of Dundee. At Dundee, unions have been pushed into a position of being opponents rather than partners. 

Recent headlines have suggested reduced job cuts. This narrative is confusing and questionable in a context where over  800 jobs have already been culled. If the present management plans go ahead the number of people removed from the workforce will approach 1,000. 

The reality of this appalling level of job losses over the last two years is something that Dundee and the surrounding area can ill-afford. The present acting Principal of the University would appear to take another view, however. 

In parallel with much of the thinking that underpins the Muscatelli report, Nigel Seaton told the Courier that ‘the stark reality of our financial situation means that significant recurring savings are needed if we are to return to a sustainable footing’.

In contrast to the Future Framework approach, however, Principal Seaton (who last year was reported as earning a salary of between £225,000 and £235,000), in common with previous principals, has not created the situation where unions are part of the process of determining the University’s future. Negotiations have been unilaterally ended - and compulsory redundancies are closer than they have ever been. 

Given the lack of evidence, with accounts not being published, it is difficult for academics, students and others concerned with the University's future to understand on what basis that decisions are being made. Court, the governing body of the university, appears to be acting without adequate attention to its elected members and unions, staff, students and institutions in the city.

This begs the question, given the huge amounts of public money provided to the University of Dundee in response to previous management actions, as to whether Court and the current university management met the requirements of the funding provided. Recognising this, the Dundee West MSP Heather Anderson of the SNP has called on Cabinet Secretary Mairi McAllan to intervene.

Politicians have, of course, been asked on previous occasions to act in a fashion that challenges the unquestioning following of orthodoxy. Whilst a positive intervention from the Scottish Government would be welcome, staff cannot wait. Dundee University and College Union (DUCU) therefore plan strike action from Monday 21st of September. If strike action goes ahead, support is needed from across Scotland. 

Prior to the planned strike action, Dundee Trades Union Council will hold a lobby of the university's Court meeting at 12.30pm on Tuesday 8th of September outside Bonar Hall.

Court members will be asked what is happening with public money. They will be asked why they are endorsing compulsory redundancies. And they will asked if they fully understand the institution’s finances.

There is a need for answers and a need for them to be answered quickly. Students planning to return to classes are not waiting. UoD Students Against Cuts have organised imaginative events - and they are now analysing the information provided to them by management. 

Staff and students cannot wait for cuts that threaten the stability of the institution. Dundee needs the politicians to act now. The issues at the University of Dundee have been fundamentally caused by mismanagement those that work and study at the university should not have sacrificing of their future be overshadowed by consideration of Scottish higher education’s forward direction. 

Published 29 August 2026