THE interim finance director at the crisis-hit Dundee University has quit after just eight days.
The institution confirmed Chris Reilly’s departure after just over a week in the key post on Wednesday.
It means Dundee University is now hunting for its fourth finance chief in less than a year.
In June, Reilly was appointed to the senior post for an initial period of 18 months as he replaced the outgoing finance chief Helen Simpson, who had only served in the role for seven months before her own exit.
Simpson had replaced Peter Fotheringham in October 2024 after he quit shortly before the scale of the university’s huge financial black hole was made public.
University bosses said Reilly joined with a “wealth of experience” in a range of organisations.
Newly appointed interim university principal Professor Nigel Seaton wrote to staff confirming Reilly’s departure.
“We are moving quickly to appoint a new interim director of finance who will take us through the next steps of the University Recovery Plan for submission to the Scottish Funding Council,” he wrote.
It comes after months of financial trouble plaguing the university, having been at threat of insolvency prior to receiving over £60 million in emergency fund packages.
Principles at the institution were blamed for the financial crisis after a report was published, revealing that bosses breached ethics rules, ignored data about the university’s finances and “potentially disregarding the facts”.
Dundee's ex-principle, Iain Gillespie, issued an apology in June for the crisis, saying to Holyrood's Education Committee: "I think staff and students deserve better than they have had with the management and the governance of the University of Dundee over quite some time, but particularly over the period of 2024.
“It’s a heartfelt apology for a university that I love, and a city that I hugely respect.
“I accept the buck stops with me. That is why at the end of last year I left.”
