University of Dundee to cut 190 jobs
The University of Dundee has announced plans to cut 190 jobs in a bid to address its financial deficit.
The university has already cut around 675 jobs through voluntary redundancies, but still needs to make savings of around £20 million.
In November 2024, it told staff that job losses were “inevitable” due to a £30 million deficit for the next financial year.
Last year, members of the University and College Union (UCU) staged 28 days of strike action, and earlier this month voted by 79% in favour of more walkouts and 89% in favour of industrial action short of a strike.
This week, staff were read a statement detailing the further job cuts but were not invited to ask questions, according to a member of staff interviewed by BBC Scotland.
University job cuts
“Whole units are being put into so-called voluntary redundancy where everybody in that unit is now going to lose their job,” he said. “So there’s nothing voluntary about it; this is compulsory redundancy.”
Interim principal and vice-chancellor Professor Nigel Seaton said the university had taken “vigorous action” to address the financial situation, but “there is a limit to how much further we can go, so the greater part of the additional savings will have to come from staff costs”.
The university will now hold a period of collective consultation with staff and unions.
Ian Ellis, Dundee UCU branch co-president, said: “This is devastating news for staff at the University of Dundee and anyone who cares about the university, its future and students at Dundee.
“Staff are once again paying the price for management failings and a catalogue of managerial missteps.
“Every job that is lost, whether by voluntary redundancy or by possible compulsory redundancies, is a tragedy for the individuals impacted but also diminishes the university and leaves increasingly unmanageable workloads for the staff who remain.”
Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, added: “Only last week, UCU members at Dundee returned an overwhelming ballot result to defend jobs and ensure a future for the university.
“It is for members to decide the next step in this dispute, but I know their resolve is undiminished since the crisis was first announced in Autumn 2024.
“Management should be clear that we will, as we have always done, continue to defend every job that we can both individually and collectively.”
Dundee is the latest in a series of universities to announce plans to make job cuts or to be impacted by industrial action against restructuring plans.
Aberdeen University announced it was consulting over 100 proposed redundancies in May, and staff at Glasgow Caledonian University held three days of strike action earlier this month in a dispute over up to 100 potential compulsory redundancies.
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