Former Dundee University principal apologises to staff and students

An inquiry into the Dundee University financial crisis continues on Thursday morning with former leaders called to give evidence before Holyrood’s Education, Children, and Young People committee.

Professor Iain Gillespie, former principal of Dundee University, apologised to staff and students in his opening statement.

On Wednesday, a panel of former senior figures also said they were sorry but pointed fingers amid the ongoing investigation into the £35m financial crisis.

Dundee University’s former director of finance, Peter Fotheringham, blamed colleagues in student recruitment for information not filtering up.

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Former chief operating officer, Dr Jim McGeorge, in turn, blamed Mr Fotheringham for a large share of the failures.

Both men, alongside former chair of court, Amanda Millar, were all questioned by MSPs at the Holyrood committee on Wednesday over the current financial position at the university.

The investigation published last Thursday was commissioned by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) after the Dundee University announced that hundreds of jobs could be lost due to a £35m blackhole.

As Scottish MSPs foot the multi-million-pound Dundee University bailout bill, they are attempting to determine what caused the financial situation and who is to blame.

Other former university leaders, including former MSP Wendy Alexander, were recalled to give evidence at Holyrood’s Education, Children, and Young People committee on Wednesday.

In one of the most serious findings, the Gillies review concluded that former principal Professor Iain Gillespie, his successor, and former interim principal, Professor Shane O’Neill, and Dr McGeorge collectively breached ethical standards by failing to disclose the true state of the university’s finances.

Answering to MSPs on Wednesday, Dr McGeorge accepted that he was “equally responsible as others” for the position Dundee University had gotten into, but he insisted he “did not know” the breach was reportable to the funding council.

“I’m not an expert on financial reporting,” Dr McGeorge told the committee.

Committee convener Douglas Ross challenged Dr McGeorge’s statement: “You were the centre of financial management at the university. You were legally bound to alert the institution to issues like this. It’s not just an appalling failure, but almost a criminal failure that you were negligent in that way.”

Dr McGeorge replied: “I don’t believe I was negligent in any way. I simply didn’t know it was a reportable incident.”

He added: “I don’t want to look like I’m blaming others or shifting responsibility, but I would, in that situation, normally expect expert colleagues in finance to say ‘this is a reportable thing, and you need to write to the funding council’.

“But I do accept that I could have acted myself, and looked that up, found that out, and done so. I apologise that I didn’t.

The evidence also revealed that Dr McGeorge was aware of the ethical standards breach earlier than he previously admitted.

Dr McGeorge told MSPs on Wednesday that he was only aware of the breach in November 2024.

However, Mr Fotheringham told MSPs that Dr McGeorge was present at a finance and policy committee meeting in early October when the situation was discussed.

Dr McGeorge admitted he was at the meeting but “didn’t recall” the subject had been raised.

Ross emphasised that it took Dr McGeorge one month from the time of that meeting until he emailed the funding council to tell them Dundee University was facing a serious deficit and seeking to make up to £30m worth of cuts.

Speaking generally about the situation, Dr McGeorge said he was “deeply and unreservedly sorry” for the situation at Dundee University.

Nonetheless, Dr McGeorge was criticised by MSPs for “sharing responsibility and often moving it to others” while giving evidence on Wednesday

Ross said: “A lot of your evidence tends to be suggesting to shift the blame away from you, but you are perhaps the most to blame out of this panel today.

“I think you hold a significant part of the blame along with [O’Neill] and [Gillespie]. You are one of three who hold more blame than anyone else.”

During the same evidence session, the former chief finance officer, Mr Fotheringham, also admitted to MSPs that he “could have done a lot better”.

He said he took his “share of responsibility in terms of the current position of the university”.

Mr Fotheringham added: “The position that it now finds itself in is obviously deeply upsetting for all of us and I am very sorry for any part I played in that.”

But he also insisted: “I thought it was very clear to everybody, the whole leadership team, that we did need to reduce costs. We had those discussions in late 2023 and early 2024.”