University of Dundee Strategic Advisory Taskforce minutes: May 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Sir Alan Langlands Chair
• Professor Shane O’Neill, University of Dundee
• Dr David McBeth, University of Dundee
• Student Union Rep, University of Dundee Student Rep
• Richard Maconachie, Scottish Funding Council (SFC)
• Cllr Mark Flynn, Dundee City Council
• Claire McPherson, Universities Scotland
• Professor Liz Bacon, Abertay University
• Ester Ruskuc, University of St Andrews
• Simon Hewitt, Dundee and Angus College
• Alison Henderson, Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce
• David McLay, Scottish Enterprise
• Lesley English, Developing the Young Workforce
• Evonne Boyd, Skills Development Scotland
• Karen Reid, NHS Education Scotland
• Catherine Cavanagh, Union rep
• Jim Rourke, Union rep
• Mary Senior, Union rep
• Peter Hope-Jones, Scottish Government (SG)
• Mandy Callaghan, SG
• Lisa Buchan, SG
• Mandy Callaghan in place of Shirley Laing for Scottish Government Lifelong Learning Directorate
• Richard Maconachie in place of Francesca Osowska, Scottish Funding Council
• Claire McPherson in place of Sir Paul Grice, Universities Scotland
• Ester Ruskuc in place of Prof Dame Sally Mapstone, University of St Andrews
• David McLay in place of Jane Martin, Scottish Enterprise

Apologies

• Colin Cook, Scottish Government
• Tim Allan, V&A Dundee
• Ellis Watson, Chief Business Adviser to the First Minister

Items and actions

The Chair, Sir Alan Langlands (AL), welcomed the group and shared apologies and substitute attendees.

The group agreed a proposal that the draft minutes of the first meeting be simplified and the same approach taken to minutes going forward.

Action: Secretariat to circulate revised draft minutes of first meeting

The Secretariat went through actions from the previous meeting:

• SFC to pass on comments on union engagement to independent investigation team – completed
• Secretariat to consider read-across to Nigel Carrington review – contact had been established
• UoD to give succinct statement of vision – to be covered in this meeting
• SFC and UoD to consider how the Taskforce can feed in – to be covered in this meeting
• Accessing comms expertise – under consideration
• Secretariat to circulate shared comms lines for agreement – completed

 The Secretariat informed members that the Terms of Reference would be published on a dedicated Taskforce page on the Scottish Government website.

Financial Recovery Plan: University’s proposed approach

Prof Shane O’Neill (SON) gave a presentation setting out the new proposed direction of travel, as announced the previous week. This covered the reduction to around 300 FTE job losses through a Voluntary Severance Scheme; restructuring of the university from 8 schools to 3 faculties; references to strategies for income generation, people and talent, and the physical and digital environment; and the proposed role of the Taskforce in this.

SON commented that engagement and input from Taskforce is critical, including advising on how to protect the best interests of staff and students. He outlined areas he thought the Taskforce could usefully contribute:

Ensuring that the University continues to deliver in its key areas of strength in education, research and knowledge exchange through collaboration and engagement with strategic partners (other HEIs, NHS/NES, public institutions and industry partners);

Positioning the University as an attractive destination for students from Scotland and across the world with an outstanding student experience and a global reputation for excellence in education, research and enterprise; and

Creating space for developing new growth and enhancing commercial activity.

SON said that a detailed plan was still being developed and that work on the financial aspects was ongoing.

AL thanked SON for the presentation and invited discussion. SON responded to questions. Key themes included:

• Trade unions were simultaneously meeting with UoD leadership on the voluntary severance offer which needs to be attractive, unions were still calling for a commitment to no compulsory redundancies, and concerns about Leverhulme job losses;
• Additional financial support from the Scottish Government is not a permanent solution so there needs to be a route to sustainability;
• Conversations between UoD, SFC and SG on the financial ask are ongoing but progress is needed urgently, as well as a timeline going forward;
• The Taskforce needs to be engaged on and informed of the developing recovery plan in order to advise meaningfully on it;
• A focus on student recruitment, particularly internationally, is essential;
• There are opportunities around shared approaches to professional services but these are complex wider issues, not necessarily best addressed regionally at this time;
• There would be benefit in specific joint work on communications and optics with Taskforce members;
• UoD could also look at local supply chains and opportunities for cost reductions;
• It would be helpful to see projected student numbers and historic trends, as well as any information on staffing rate of departure;
• The wider sectoral context and impact should be kept in mind;
• Other factors including the UK Government white paper on migration will have an impact.

Action: Specific joint work on communications to be added to the workplan

Priorities for the Taskforce

AL invited discussion of the short paper ‘Key priorities for future meetings’ shared with the agenda. Key themes included:

It’s helpful to have an outline of what’s to be covered;

The investigation led by Pamela Gillies is relevant and its report will impact on Taskforce consideration, but recommendations on university governance are outside the scope of the Taskforce;

For clarity, the outline refers to the UoD financial recovery plan, but a full FRP has not been shared with the Taskforce, only the direction of travel;

It would be helpful to have a clearer prompt for each meeting of what specifically the university is looking for input on from the Taskforce, so that members can prepare ahead of time and feed in meaningfully;

One key challenge remains: what will be different in two years’ time to make the university a going concern without additional financial support.

SON commented that it will be challenging to bring the full detail of a recovery plan to the Taskforce.

Economic and Social Impacts of the University

Dr David MacBeth (DMB) gave a presentation covering the economic and social impacts of the university including spinout companies and entrepreneurship support.

Key themes of discussion following the presentation included:

• The positive messages in the presentation were strongly welcomed, and there was agreement that these positive messages could be helpfully amplified;
• There has been significant success particularly in health and life sciences research, but in many cases income generation was outweighed by the high costs involved, so much of this was being considered for reduction given the current situation.

Dates of future meetings

These had been shared by email.

Any other business

AL thanked members and closed the meeting.