University of Dundee to receive £22m support package

Funding chiefs have approved a £22m support package for the University of Dundee – with the cash coming the day after MSPs were warned insolvency is a “real possibility”.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has agreed to make the money available to the cash-strapped institution in a combination of grants and low-cost loans.

It meets the request made by the university for help in a recovery plan drawn up in a bid to plug a £35m deficit – with bosses also seeking to cut 632 full-time equivalent posts as they look to make savings.

The funding comes after the Scottish Government announced an additional £25m was being made available to help the higher education sector.

SFC chief executive Francesca Osowska described Dundee University as a “world-leading institution with a rich heritage in delivering excellent student outcomes and world-leading research”.

She added: “We are committed to supporting the university and the funding approved by the SFC board today will support the university as it develops its financial recovery plan to return to a position of financial health.”

It comes a day after Tricia Bey, acting chairwoman of the university’s governing court, told MSPs on Holyrood’s Education Committee that insolvency at the institution is a “real possibility”.

Speaking about the “very grave cash crisis” the institution is facing, Ms Bey, who has only been in post since February 17, said: “Without the very welcome liquidity support of the SFC, we would have run out cash at the end of June.”

Ms Osowska meanwhile spoke about the “significant uncertainty and anxiety that staff and students are experiencing at the University of Dundee” as a result of its financial difficulties.

She added: “Given the important role that the university plays in the city and the surrounding region, we also acknowledge the concerns of the wider community.”

Interim principal at the university, Professor Shane O’Neill, on Wednesday apologised to all those affected by the “challenges” at the institution.

Prior to details of the financial difficulties the university was facing becoming clear late in 2024, he said there had been an “understanding” that the university was “close to break even”.

Prof O’Neill told the Education Committee: “I can tell you there was misleading information, there was a false assumption towards the end of the last financial year we were close to break even.

“That did not turn out to be the case, we were well off break even position and that only became clear in November.”