Where now for the University of Dundee?

Thursday July 16th will see a demonstration held outside the Court meeting of the University of Dundee (UoD). In itself, this is not an entirely unusual occurrence. What will hopefully be different is that it will signal change in direction for the institution. 

At a recent public meeting organised by Dundee Trades Union Council, more than 150 people heard from academics, support staff, and students. The meeting heard that Dundee’s third biggest employer would again be shedding hundreds of jobs.

People at the meeting took the view that if anyone was to go, it should be Nigel Seaton, the university’s interim principal.

The distance between university senior management and those attending the public meeting is huge. Concern was expressed for those facing the loss of their jobs. Concern was expressed for the impact on the future employment opportunities of young people in the city.

Concern was expressed for the loss of the right to educational development in Dundee. 

What has also become clear is the failure of senior management at UoD, yet again, to have a transparent discussion about the figures they are using to justify the latest round.

Seaton has accepted millions of pounds in public money to stabilise the institution and stop the job cuts. His response, and that of those around him, has been to take the money, refuse to open the books, and announce more cuts. 

Seaton’s reality appears very different to that of those that attended the public meeting and those who will demonstrate outside the Court meeting. More than 700 staff have gone recently; now 200 more will go unless this is opposed.

In addition, the city’s botanic gardens and Cooper Gallery will close. Philosophy, mathematics and other important ad valuable courses will be impacted. Support for students will become increasingly difficult to access with increasing stress being put on already stretched local NHS and voluntary sector services. 

Dundee City Council, local MSPs, the campus unions, the University Rector and the students association have voiced concern. The UCU union at the university has again announced strike action.

The Scottish Government, which has much more to do, directly or via the Scottish Funding Council, are  being ignored by one man, and the cohort surrounding Professor Seaton. Worryingly for the higher education sector across Scotland, the Dundee experience is being used to justify cuts elsewhere. 

Many of those who run Scotland’s public institutions believe that they are doing the right thing. They draw on a Blairite initiated ideological enthusiasm for neoliberalism to impose cuts on the people who deliver services on the frontline. 

The July 16th demonstration will make clear that this comes at a cost. A cost that the workers at Dundee University and the City are increasingly unwilling to pay. All those that oppose this latest attack on Dundee should attend the demonstration and call for an alternative to a self-imposed spiral of decline. 

Published 12 July 2026