The 6 key things learned from 'jaw-dropping' Dundee University financial crisis hearing

MSPs have been hearing “jaw-dropping” evidence about the financial crisis at Dundee University at a hearing in Holyrood on Wednesday.

Testimony was given to the education committee from the institution’s interim principal Shane O'Neill, as well as other senior figures, and representatives from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

Here are some of the key revelations to emerge from the session.

Dundee University poster | Lisa Ferguson

Dundee University is on the brink of running out of money

MSPs were told Dundee University faces a “very grave cash crisis” and would run out of money by the end of June without liquidity support. The short-term support required by the university is £22 million, and that is likely to be approved by the board of the SFC on Thursday.

Shock plans to axe 632 jobs could be revised

A financial recovery plan was announced last week that proposed cutting 632 full-time-equivalent posts. The committee was told this would lead to savings worth £49m. However, the Scottish Government and the SFC has told the university to look at “alternative” options to limit these cuts. This will be discussed over the next two weeks.

Senior figures were unaware institution was sliding into deficit last year

For the first time, it was confirmed on Wednesday that Dundee University’s unpublished accounts for 2023/24 show an operational deficit of £12.3m, as well as a “sharp” fall in its cash balances. But senior figures had been under the impression the university was still on track to break even until the deficit was revealed in November last year.

They were unaware because information may have been deliberately withheld

Tricia Bey, acting chair of court, told the committee: “Why this investigation is so important to us is to find out whether things were deliberately kept from us - whether this is oversight/incompetence or whether somewhere in those processes things have been deliberately kept from filtering upwards, because at the moment we genuinely don’t know the intention behind it.”

Asked by journalists if there was a “cover-up” after the hearing, Prof O'Neill said: “I don’t believe there is any evidence I have seen that suggests that, but those questions have to be asked.”

Current bosses blame their predecessors for a series of failures.

Prof O’Neill is one of the last remaining senior decision-makers still in a post at the university, following a spate of resignations, including by former principal Iain Gillespie and court chair Amanda Millar.

He told the committee there were pressures common to other Scottish universities, but also many which were Dundee-specific, including “inadequate financial discipline and control, poor investment decisions, including on IT systems, weak compliance at times in financial control, [and] lack of accountability”.

The interim principal added: “There has also been inadequate oversight at executive and court levels of our financial position, not least in ensuring that strategic ambitions were underpinned by financial rigour.”

The chair of an independent inquiry into the crisis has been named

MSPs were told by SFC that an independent inquiry into the situation at Dundee would be chaired by Professor Pamela Gillies, the former principal of Glasgow Caledonian University. It could take three or four months to complete.