Under-pressure Scottish university chief quits with 'immediate effect'

The under-fire principal of a Scottish university has stepped down with immediate effect.

It was announced on Friday that Professor Iain Gillespie would be quitting as principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Dundee. Prof Gillespie had written to staff last month warning jobs may need to be cut to help plug a deficit of up to £30 million.

His resignation comes just days after The Scotsman revealed Dundee University was facing further financial pressure after it emerged it was expecting to have to repay part of its teaching grant to the Scottish Funding Council because of a shortfall of more than 300 Scottish undergraduates this year.

Questions had also been asked about his expenses claims, which totalled £131,000 for travel and accommodation in the past three years.

The University of Dundee has flagged staffing cuts to meet a 30 million pound deficit. Picture: NationalWorld | TSPL

In a statement issued on Friday, the university said: “Professor Iain Gillespie has stepped down as principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Dundee, with immediate effect.

“Prof Gillespie served for almost four years as principal and vice-chancellor. During that time, the university has been named Scotland’s university of the year by The Herald and the Daily Mail.

“Professor Shane O’Neill, as deputy vice-chancellor and provost, will take on the leadership of the university executive group.”

Writing to staff on Friday morning, the chair of the university’s ruling court, Amanda Millar, said: “The university is currently facing significant challenges to our financial sustainability. The university leadership group has been working intensively over recent weeks to develop a recovery plan to address this situation.”

She added: “I am optimistic that they, working closely with our court, will re-establish a more stable financial foundation to allow the university to flourish again.”

As well as being the head of Dundee University, Prof Gillespie had been the convener of the umbrella body, Universities Scotland, since August last year.

Claire McPherson, director of Universities Scotland, said: “Following Prof Gillespie's decision to step down as principal and vice chancellor of the University of Dundee, Universities Scotland will meet with our governance group next week to agree interim arrangements for the convener role.

“We expect to be able to make a further announcement over the next week. We'd like to thank Iain for everything he gave to the convenership and we send him our best wishes."

In a memo to staff last month, Prof Gillespie said it had been an “extremely challenging period” for the sector, as a result of a drop in the recruitment of international students, the long-term decline of Scottish Government funding, and other rising costs.

Despite a recruitment freeze and spending controls, the principal said the university could still be facing a deficit in this financial year in the range of £25m to £30m.

Prof Gillespie wrote: “Therefore, we must take further action now to address our financial stability and long-term future. Given the profile of our costs, it is inevitable this will mean a reduction in our staffing levels.

“This will be a very difficult period, certainly for this financial year and next. We must meet this challenge together as a mutually supportive community. The decisions we take will be in the interests of the future health and sustainability of the university, but they will not, in many cases, be easy ones.”