Anger as universities get five-week deadline to agree ‘merger by fax’

TWO of Scotland’s universities are under pressure to agree to merge within weeks in a bid to save money, it has emerged.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC), which provides Scottish Government cash for higher education, wants Dundee and Abertay to have decided on their future by the end of next month.

But the rush to begin talks between the two institutions was criticised yesterday, with one former university principal describing the way the issue had been handled as “merger by fax”.

It came as education secretary Mike Russell said the merger of the two was not inevitable, adding it was “only one possible outcome” of the discussions set to get under way.

In a letter sent to Abertay University, SFC chief executive Mark Batho made clear the need to move “quite quickly” with the aim that the universities and the SFC should “take a decision on whether to proceed with this merger by the end of October”.

At yesterday’s Holyrood education committee meeting, Lord Sutherland, a former principal of Edinburgh University, criticised the timescale and the way the proposed merger had been handled. He said: “I can’t think of a worse way of doing it – it looks like merger by fax. It takes time and requires agreement on institutions, not instructions that come across as a veiled threat.”

He said both universities had “very divergent systems and strengths” and any merger could not be done “in five weeks”.

Also addressing the committee, Mr Batho said there was an “overlap” between the two universities in the courses on offer, particularly in nursing and law, adding there were “possible efficiencies” to be made.

Confirming the merger plan had been proposed by the SFC, not the Scottish Government, he went on: “We said there was an opportunity to look in particular at the situation in Tayside because of the principal vacancy that’s there [at Abertay]. Where you have a principal vacancy, that opens up opportunities.

“I want to be clear that our letter did not direct either institution towards merger. We made it very clear we wanted discussions; that’s a very different thing, I think. We don’t have legal powers to force merger. We’re not forcing them, but we’re encouraging them to engage with us in discussions to look at the possibility.”

Discussion of the merger came as three Scottish universities, Abertay and Dundee among them, became the latest to outline how much they will charge students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland as of next year. Dundee and Strathclyde will charge £9,000 a year, capped at £27,000, with Abertay charging £7,000 a year, to a maximum of £21,000.

Jenny Marra, a Labour MSP for North East Scotland, said: “It was a relief to hear an expert like Lord Sutherland confirming what we in Dundee have been thinking since the merger proposal emerged – that it has been very poorly handled, and that mergers only work when they are about education, not saving money.

“Mark Batho was quite clear that the Scottish Government does not have the power to force a merger between universities. So if Abertay and Dundee universities fail to find any areas where they can offer better courses together, I expect the Scottish Funding Council will quietly drop this proposal at the end of October.”

Liam McArthur, the Lib Dem education spokesman, said: “Far from being institution-led, as ministers have promised, the process is being railroaded through, driven by financial considerations and ministerial diktat.”

Earlier, a letter sent by Mr Russell to Dundee MSPs emerged, showing the merger was far from being a done deal. The education secretary wrote: “For the record, can I say that I do not believe that merger is the only possible outcome of the review process.”