This is beyond damning.
The principal and other senior managers at the University of Dundee knew their student numbers were falling and knew they were millions of pounds in deficit. But the fact that they not only failed to do anything about it but covered it up and kept spending is incredible.
Attracting overseas students has been a big part of the business model for Scotland’s universities for quite a few years. It worked at Dundee University – until it didn’t.
In 2024, the number of overseas students enrolling at Dundee fell from more than 1,200 to fewer than 400.
Instead of cutting costs in line with falling income, the principal’s message was one of confidence for the future and the prospect of continued growth.
For months, financial papers were withheld from the university’s ruling court and no one questioned what was going on.
Bear in mind this is a higher education institution charged with shaping the inquiring minds of the country’s future, and not one of the senior management team questioned what was going on or why they were being kept in the dark.
As well as all that, the principal and his closest colleagues kept the university’s financial position from the Bank of Scotland.
The Gillies Report makes it clear they were guilty of a “breach of covenant” twice – spending money from university bank accounts while knowing they were already in deficit. That’s something else they kept from the University Court.
I’ve not seen a report like this outside of the criminal courts, but it’s author Professor Pamela Gillies does not believe their actions amount to criminality. The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, (OSCR) however, is launching a further investigation on the back of todays report. All universities in Scotland are registered as charities.
So OSCR says “concerns remain about the governance of this charity” and they are opening an inquiry “so that we can better understand these matters”. They will look into “the university and its trustees, past and present, to determine whether regulatory action is required”.
So everyone who sat on Dundee University’s Court or played a role in senior management over the last few years will come under their investigation, including former Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander, who is now a Labour Peer in the House of Lords.
This is a wake up call to universities across Scotland. Just this month MSPs on Holyrood’s education committee heard from University of Edinburgh principal Sir Peter Mathieson, Edinburgh Napier University principal professor Sue Rigby, and University of the West of Scotland principal, Professor James Miller about the financial difficulties they are facing.
You might remember the exchange between former Scottish Conservative Leader Douglas Ross and Sir Peter Mathieson, who couldn’t remember quite how many hundreds of thousands of pounds he was paid.
Towards the end of the Gillies Report, it describes the then-Dundee University principal professor Ian Gillespie as “an excellent public speaker” but warned there were “many reports to this investigation that the principal frequently demonstrated hubris, or excessive pride in his role”.
It added: “Hubris is relevant insofar as it can be characterised by dangerous over self-confidence and complacency, often in combination with arrogance, contempt towards people who offer criticism and obsession with personal image and status.”
That hubris almost saw the University of Dundee go bust and forced the taxpayer to cough up £122m to keep it going.
This must be a wake up call not just to universities but to all those who sit on management boards of important institutions and public sector bodies. They must scrutinise and hold themselves to account because further down the line others will hold them to account.
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