Swinney voices concern at ‘extreme situation’ at University of Dundee
The First Minister’s comments come a day after the university said it will cut more than 600 jobs as it bids to tackle a £35 million deficit.
John Swinney has said he is “deeply concerned” about the “extreme situation” facing the University of Dundee.
The institution announced on Tuesday it plans to cut 632 jobs as it bids to tackle a £35 million deficit.
The number accounts for around 20% of the university’s more than 3,000-strong workforce.
The cash-strapped university will also look at selling off intellectual property rights and parts of its estate as it looks to downsize.
It may have to approach the Scottish Government, the Scottish Funding Council or even banks to fund redundancy payments.
Speaking to the PA news agency on Wednesday, the First Minister said support will be made available to the university.
“There are obviously a range of challenges within the higher education sector for a number of institutions, and institutions are managing those challenges, and every institution has to do so,” he said.
“The example in Dundee is a particularly extreme example and I’m deeply concerned about the details and the implications of the situation that is being faced at the University of Dundee.
“The Scottish Government is working closely with the Scottish Funding Council, the organisation that interacts with universities about their funding, and as the Finance Secretary set out in the Budget in February, there will be support available from the Scottish Government to help with the extreme situation that we face in the University of Dundee.”
He described the university as an “important institution” with a “formidable track record” in a range of areas, including life sciences.
He added: “So it’s important that we take all the steps that we can all take as a community, in particular the university leadership, to safeguard the future of the University of Dundee.”
Speaking to journalists after she announced plans to stand down at the next election, former first minister Nicola Sturgeon was asked about the situation in Tayside, and she urged the Government not to bring back tuition fees.
“I think there is a big, big challenge in our university sector right now – it’s not just in Scotland, we’re seeing this across the UK,” she said.
“There’s no easy solution and I know the Government is thinking carefully about that.
“But no, I don’t believe it’s time to take away free education.”
She added: “I won’t speak for anybody else, I’m not going to try to speak for my successes in government but I’m standing here right now as somebody about to leave Parliament after 30 years having been the first female first minister.
“If there was tuition fees when I was 16, 17, 18, I wouldn’t have gone to university.
“I don’t think people like me have got a right to pull that ladder up behind us, so I will always stand firm for free education.”
Universities minister Graeme Dey has said any plea for more funding for the university would be “carefully considered”.
The leadership at the institution has pledged its support for an external investigation “into what went wrong”, with interim principal Professor Shane O’Neill committing to enacting its findings.
He said: “The current financial crisis has challenged us to ask some very fundamental questions about the size, shape, balance and structure of the university.
“The measures we are now proposing would make an essential contribution in our becoming a more appropriately balanced and restructured institution.
“Getting there will not be easy and we are determined to take on board all relevant lessons from the past and the various factors that contributed to the current position.
“We are committed to an external investigation into what went wrong, which will be co-sponsored with the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), and we will accept and act on the findings of that investigation.”
Cuts have already yielded £17 million in savings, Prof O’Neill said, but more will be required.
“The measures we are proposing would make an essential contribution in our becoming a more appropriately balanced and financially sustainable institution,” he added.
The University and College Union Scotland said the loss of jobs is a “hammer blow to hard-working and committed workers at the university”.
Jo Grady, the union’s general secretary, said staff are “being made to pay the price for egregious management failure”.
Holyrood’s education committee has called on representatives from the University of Dundee, the SFC and Universities Scotland to appear before MSPs next Wednesday.
Scottish Tory MSP Douglas Ross, who convened the committee, said: “We are very concerned about the situation at the University of Dundee and the news of hundreds of job losses this week.
“We look forward to hearing from a panel of witnesses so we can understand more about what is happening to safeguard the future of this vitally important institution.”
Mr Dey told MSPs on Wednesday afternoon that he and the Education Secretary had written to the university’s interim principal to express their “deep concern” at the cuts.
But he said the scale of the financial situation meant job losses were unavoidable.
He added: “We stressed the importance of taking every effort to minimise the impact on jobs, and that compulsory redundancies should only be considered as a last resort after all other cost-saving measures have been fully exhausted.
“We have assured the university that it will continue to have the full support of the Government to return itself to a sustainable footing and I want to reassure Parliament that we will continue to explore all means possible to support the university.”
