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The Independent
02-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Interim finance chief at cash-strapped university quits after days in post
Cash-strapped Dundee University is looking to replace its chief finance officer, who quit after just over a week in the post. Chris Reilly, who took on the role on an interim basis days at the start of last week, has left the university by 'mutual agreement'. Dundee University is grappling with a financial crisis which has resulted in the Scottish Government using special powers to award a further £40 million to the institution. Faced with a £35 million deficit, the university is looking to cut hundreds of jobs. Professor Nigel Seaton, Dundee's interim principal and vice chancellor, confirmed Mr Reilly's departure in a message to staff – saying the institution is 'moving quickly' to replace him. Prof Seaton, who himself only took on the role after the previous interim principal quit last month, said Mr Reilly's replacement would help take the university through the 'next steps' of its recovery plan. Previous interim principal Professor Shane O'Neill quit the post in June after a report by former Glasgow Caledonian University principal Professor Pamela Gillies was critical of him and other former senior Dundee University figures for their actions before the scale of the crisis became public. That report found members of the university executive group, which included the 'triumvirate' of Prof O'Neill, former principal Professor Iain Gillespie and ex-chief operating officer Jim McGeorge, had 'failed' to 'properly respond to the worsening situation' with the institution's finances in 2024.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Interim finance chief at cash-strapped university quits after days in post
Cash-strapped Dundee University is looking to replace its chief finance officer, who quit after just over a week in the post. Chris Reilly, who took on the role on an interim basis days at the start of last week, has left the university by 'mutual agreement'. Dundee University is grappling with a financial crisis which has resulted in the Scottish Government using special powers to award a further £40 million to the institution. Faced with a £35 million deficit, the university is looking to cut hundreds of jobs. Professor Nigel Seaton, Dundee's interim principal and vice chancellor, confirmed Mr Reilly's departure in a message to staff – saying the institution is 'moving quickly' to replace him. Prof Seaton, who himself only took on the role after the previous interim principal quit last month, said Mr Reilly's replacement would help take the university through the 'next steps' of its recovery plan. Previous interim principal Professor Shane O'Neill quit the post in June after a report by former Glasgow Caledonian University principal Professor Pamela Gillies was critical of him and other former senior Dundee University figures for their actions before the scale of the crisis became public. That report found members of the university executive group, which included the 'triumvirate' of Prof O'Neill, former principal Professor Iain Gillespie and ex-chief operating officer Jim McGeorge, had 'failed' to 'properly respond to the worsening situation' with the institution's finances in 2024.
Telegraph
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
I was incompetent, admits ex-head of university handed £40m taxpayer bailout
On Tuesday, Jenny Gilruth, the SNP Education Secretary, announced she was using special powers to award £40 million to the institution. The academic was heavily criticised over his role in the university's financial crisis in a recent independent report by Prof Pamela Gillies. It said Prof Gillespie had an 'overbearing leadership style' and a dislike of potentially awkward questioning and confrontations. Prof Shane O'Neill, his replacement and former deputy, resigned immediately following the report's publication, along with Tricia Bey, the acting chair of court. Mr Ross highlighted 12 occasions the Gillies report said that Prof Gillespie 'should have and could have' known about problems earlier. Pressed if he cared about this at all, the academic said he cared 'very very deeply', adding: 'I admit this is cold comfort. 'This is extremely painful for all of us, it's extremely painful to read, extremely painful to reflect, extremely painful to learn the level of our failure.' He apologised to staff and students, saying they 'deserve better.' 'I don't think I am a coward' But Mr Ross, the former Scottish Tory leader, accused him of cowardice and told him he had received 'over £150,000 to walk away from a university you almost destroyed'. The academic said that 'I don't think I am a coward' and defended not handing back the six months' salary he received after leaving in December. 'That was a contractual obligation from my employer to me. It was not in my thought process to repay a financial obligation,' he said. Prof Gillespie said he did not 'recognise' the report's depiction of his management style but admitted a complaint had been made against him in a previous job at the Natural Environment Research Council. He said one worker 'did make a complaint against me, that was about overbearing behaviour', adding this person had 'moved on to another job'. John Swinney, the First Minister, joined calls for Prof Gillespie to hand back his payoff, saying: 'I think that would be the right thing to do because the University of Dundee is facing an acute challenge.'
BBC News
26-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Former Dundee University principal apologises to staff and students
Update: Date: 08:44 BST Title: What did the report say? Content: The independent report, external found the main causes for the deficit included poor financial judgement from university bosses and weak governance from the university court, which is meant to hold senior management to account. It found that almost £40m of ringfenced money had been spent elsewhere and there had been "a lack of real action" to address an £8m "hole" due to a fall in international student recruitment. The report said that those in charge of the university's governance should have known well before November last year that there was a problem. In the wake of the report's publication, the principal Prof Shane O'Neill resigned. He was identified in the report along with former principal Prof Iain Gillespie, the chief operating officer and the director of finance as one of the university leaders who "did not cultivate a culture of openness and challenge at all levels". Tricia Bey, acting chair of the university court, and Carla Rossini, convenor of the finance & policy committee, also left the university with immediate effect. Update: Date: 08:40 BST Title: Gilliespie insists he was a 'champion of the university' Content: Gilliespie says the Gillies Report was a "forensic piece of work", but he "does not recognise" the description of his management style. He says he was "always a champion of Dundee University" Update: Date: 08:38 BST Title: Staff and students 'deserved better' Content: Committee chairman Douglas Ross opens the questioning of Prof Gillespie by saying the Gillies Report into the the running of the university was "damning and particularly scathing" about the former principal. Gillespie says students and staff deserved better from their university, and he says he offers a "heart-felt apology". Update: Date: 08:34 BST Title: How did we get here? Content: In November, at a time when many Scottish universities were experiencing budget woes, Dundee University told staff that job cuts were "inevitable" as it faced a "significant deficit". The university's then principal Prof Iain Gillespie quit less than two weeks later and it emerged that the university had a £35m blackhole. Staff were informed of plans to cut 632 posts - about 20% of the workforce - by then interim principal Prof Shane O'Neill at a meeting in March. Union members voted in favour of three weeks of strike action in the face of potential compulsory redundancies. The cuts were later scaled back to about 300 voluntary redundancies. The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) approved a £22m support package in April and a further £40m was confirmed this week. And last week Prof O'Neill and two senior members of the university's governing body quit after a damning report revealed it's financial woes were "self-inflicted". Update: Date: 08:32 BST Title: Prof Gillespie apologises to Dundee uni staff and students Content: The evidence session is under way, and Prof Gillespie opens by apologising to University of Dundee staff and students. Update: Date: 08:30 BST Title: Welcome Content: Prof Iain Gillespie resigned as Dundee University principal in December last year Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of Holyrood's education committee as it continues its inquiry into the financial mismanagement of the University of Dundee. The university currently faces a £35m deficit and has said it must cut 300 jobs through a voluntary redundancy scheme. An independent report,, external published last week, said university bosses and its governing body failed multiple times to identify the worsening crisis and continued to overspend instead of taking action. This morning's evidence session is with Prof Iain Gillespie, the former principal and vice-chancellor of the university. Prof Gillespie resigned with immediate effect in December after telling staff the previous month that job losses were "inevitable". The evidence session begins at 08:30 and we'll bring you reports and analysis throughout. You can watch the committee live by clicking on the Watch Live icon at the top of the page.
Times
20-06-2025
- Business
- Times
Dundee University had ‘overbearing leadership and lax financial controls'
An 'overbearing' principal, poor financial controls and a lack of transparency contributed to Dundee University's financial meltdown, a scathing report has concluded. The results of the independent investigation carried out by Professor Pamela Gillies were published on Thursday by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and suggest that much of the harm which resulted in a £35 million deficit was self-inflicted. Gillies was tasked with looking into the problems, which threatened to lead to hundreds of jobs losses. The Scottish government has already provided a £22 million bailout to ensure the immediate future of the institution. Gillies, who is a former principal of Glasgow Caledonian University, found that the University of Dundee had failed to adequately address issues around declining numbers of overseas students and did not take cost-saving action early enough, meaning it was 'set up to fail' in its 2024-25 financial year. Professor Shane O'Neill, who took over as interim principal in December, resigned immediately after the report was published. Tricia Bey, the acting chairwoman of the university court, and Carla Rossini, convener of the finance and policy committee, also departed with immediate effect. Jenny Gilruth, the education secretary, said: 'It is evident from the findings that there are serious questions which must be answered by the University of Dundee's management team. 'This is obviously a difficult time for the university but I welcome the decisive action which has been taken with the changes in leadership. It is vital that we now move to a period of stability to ensure the institution can move forward and thrive into the future.' O'Neill, previously the deputy vice-chancellor, and Professor Iain Gillespie, the former principal who left last December, along with other senior finance managers were described as not having 'a culture of openness' at all levels. Gillespie's 'overbearing leadership style' was also highlighted as well as his dislike of 'awkward' questioning, while 'dissent or challenge was routinely shut down'. Submissions made to the inquiry stated that Gillespie 'frequently demonstrated hubris, or excessive pride' in his role. Financial controls were lacking in many areas with the university actually breaching its banking covenants, although that information was not properly conveyed to oversight committees. Many investment decisions 'were not appropriately agreed against their effects on the University's sustainability'. The report also called into question the 'credibility and accuracy' of the documents which were put forward for scrutiny by the university court. It said: 'Information was generally presented in a manner which made it difficult to fully understand the true financial performance of the university.' The 64-page document notes that poor oversight meant 'operational and investment decisions were made without awareness of the university's cash position'. It also raised questions over how more than £40 million of cash was spent, having been raised from selling shares in the successful university spin-out company Exscientia, which uses artificial intelligence to aid drug discovery and development. It was supposed to have been ringfenced for 'strategic development' but instead appears to have been used in the university's day-to-day cash spending Alongside the poor financial governance, the cash problems were worsened by decisions to continue adding new members of staff instead of implementing a recruitment freeze. The total headcount peaked at more than 4,340 but had fallen slightly to about 4,100 by April this year. Francesca Osowska, chief executive of the SFC, said: 'Given the seriousness of the situation, it was important that the investigation was conducted with rigour and transparency. 'The report has identified a range of issues that contributed to the financial challenges facing the university; however, it is quite clear that there have been failures in financial monitoring and reporting, and failures in governance.' Michael Marra, a Labour MSP who used to work at the university, said: 'The report shows that the institution was failed catastrophically by a small group of executive leaders entirely out of their depth and cowed by a hubristic principal who brooked no dissent. 'Details of Iain Gillespie's leadership style are deeply troubling; sidelining, speaking over or publicly criticising women in the university who dared to speak up. 'There were also clear failures of governance, with inaccurate reports which masked the true financial picture, and public statements by the principal that were purposefully misleading.' Miles Briggs, the Scottish Conservative MSP, said: 'This is a devastating report into the gross mismanagement that has existed for far too long at the University of Dundee. 'Senior figures were told what they had to do to get Dundee University into a sustainable position but they repeatedly failed to act, and covered-up the true state of its financial position.'
