DUNDEE University is 18 months into a financial crisis that has become a warning for Scotland’s higher education sector.
After senior resignations, government bailouts and hundreds of staff departures, further cuts remain.
The university has already held two voluntary severance rounds, reduced eight academic schools to four faculties, and imposed a recruitment freeze.
It now proposes closing key campus institutions, cutting around 200 more staff, and ending four programmes.
Compulsory redundancies may follow if not enough staff volunteer, confirming unions’ long-running concerns.
Politics and International Relations lecturer, Dr Edzia Carvalho, said the proposed cuts were “a needless destruction of a university that is the beating heart of our city”.
The Current Situation
TO save £20 million annually, Dundee has proposed closing the Botanic Gardens, Cooper Gallery, Chaplaincy Centre, Global Room, University Nursery, Mathematics, Philosophy, Languages and English for International Students, alongside downsizing student support.
Despite sector-wide pressures, Dundee is Scotland’s only university to need government rescue. They have accepted £62m in emergency funding from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) since the crisis began.
Public backlash has been widespread, with petitions launched to save the Botanic Garden, Cooper Gallery, the Philosophy department, and oppose the wider cuts.
The response has drawn together students, staff, alumni and locals, turning the proposals from an internal restructuring plan into a wider debate about what the university means to Dundee.
Philosophy and Politics student Aaqil Hussain said the proposals were “one of the most alarming threats to the institution’s academic future in recent memory.”
Community Outcry
THERE has been particular backlash over the proposed closure of the Cooper Gallery and Botanic Gardens, both seen as important cultural and community spaces.
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design alumnus Jenny Brownrigg said the Cooper Gallery “engages with a sphere that the university cannot do otherwise through quality and reputation.”
Douglas MacKenzie called the proposal “an appalling decision,” while Sam Ainsley, founder and former head of Glasgow School of Art’s MFA, said the closure should “send shockwaves throughout Scotland.”
Ainsley added that those in managerial positions should “hang their heads in shame” for supporting the loss of such important cultural spaces.
The Botanic Garden petition has reached more than 11,000 signatures.
The Philosophy department, ranked second in Scotland, would close after the incoming September cohort completes its course in 2030.
Senior Philosophy lecturer Dr Dominic Smith said the plans would be resisted “with the greatest strength we can muster.”
Smith added that supporters must make the case for Philosophy as a valuable part of Dundee’s curriculum as strongly as possible before consultation closes.
Current student Nick Kester said Dundee’s approach risked forgetting “the social and cultural impact that the Humanities and Philosophy
specifically offer”. Kester said he came to Dundee specifically for the programme’s distinctive qualities, arguing that cuts based only on business models risk overlooking what humanities subjects contribute to university life.
Staff Losses
BETWEEN August 2024 and May 2026, 675 staff left through voluntary severance or other means.
A further 134 successful severance applications will take departures to 809.
If 210 more FTE roles go, minimum departures will reach 1019, which is a quarter of the pre-crisis workforce.
In a press release, Dundee UCU (DUCU) opposed the plan, saying the cuts lacked meaningful community engagement and failed to meet SFC conditions. DUCU called for the proposals to be paused until those conditions are met.
There have been 26 walkouts since the crisis began, and earlier this month, DUCU voted in favour of further industrial action.
How did we get here?
THE Gillies Report, commissioned to examine Dundee’s sudden financial deterioration, details how the crisis developed.
The recent recovery plan described the fallout as a prolonged period of instability and distress, with serious damage to morale, confidence in leadership and university culture.
It points to external sector pressures and a fatal internal decline, including over-ambitious financial reporting.
The sector had long warned against reliance on international fees, but only Dundee fell into full crisis.
In 2023/24, overseas postgraduate intake (Dundee’s biggest income source) collapsed, with numbers falling from 1230 to 393.
The budget was not properly adjusted. Instead, the university continued to pursue an upward growth narrative even as its most integral income stream collapsed.
Recruitment and income were further hit by UK visa reforms, the falling Nigerian naira, and Dundee’s drop from the Times Higher Education global top 250.
Yet these factors alone don’t explain the scale of the crisis, which “roots extend far deeper” than the moment it was publicly revealed.
As well as external shocks, management failed to cut spending as income fell; staff costs rose, and operational spending grew from £107m to £130m in FY24.
The report found any challenge was discouraged and warnings were softened.
Court, the university’s highest governing body, was not presented with the full picture until the financial position had already become critical.
Staff lacked realistic routes to raise concerns, while former management failed to foster openness or challenge.
For more than a decade, income growth lagged behind costs, leaving Dundee with little resilience when shocks hit. Sector pressures triggered the crisis, but internal failures made it inevitable.
What Now?
DUNDEE’S new management must rebuild after past leadership failures.
The 2024 shock has become an ongoing crisis for students and staff.
The latest cuts are sizeable but described as “essential.”
Principal Nigel Seaton told students: “I greatly regret that we have had to take this step, but it is essential that we continue to recover from the very serious mistakes of the past … and work to build a more sustainable future.”
He added that the university’s “priority continues to be providing a strong student experience and the delivery of high-quality programmes.”
“Your course will continue as planned until you graduate, and if there are changes to any aspect of your course, these will be communicated to you in good time, as is our usual process.”
The SFC acknowledged that these challenges are “being faced across higher education,” and other institutions are now implementing similar cost-saving measures.
Dundee’s near collapse is a warning for higher education. The recent recovery plan urges other universities to act as Dundee has, “to reduce their cost base, while looking for more secure and predictable avenues to income growth”.
Eva Milne is a recent Dundee University graduate, founding member and former editor-in-chief of The Jute Journal, and winner of The Herald Student Journalist of the Year 2026
