University of Dundee Strategic Advisory Taskforce workshops: shared services

The University of Dundee Strategic Advisory Taskforce held a series of workshops in June and July 2025. These covered a range of subjects agreed with the University of Dundee (UoD), and the purpose was to provide more focused and detailed discussion on issues relevant to the University’s recovery planning. Minutes from the workshop on shared services are below.

You can read minutes from the other workshops at: University of Dundee Strategic Advisory Taskforce

Attendees and apologies

• Blair Grubb, University of Dundee
• Claudette Jones, University of Dundee
• Colin Brown, NHS Education Scotland
• Liz Bacon, University of Abertay
• Maria Law, University of Dundee
• Mary Senior, University and College Union
• Rose Jenkins, University of Dundee
• Simon Hewitt, Dundee & Angus College
• Siobhan Tolland, University and College Union
• Peter Hope-Jones, Scottish Government
• Lisa Buchan, Scottish Government
• Colin Cook, Scottish Government

Items and actions

Presentation

Prof Blair Grubb, Vice-Principal (Education), Rose Jenkins, Director of Estates and Campus Service, and Claudette Jones, Director of IT Professional Service, gave a presentation covering existing use of collaborative and shared services at University of Dundee and potential new areas in relation to student services, estates-related services and IT.

Discussion

Themes that emerged from discussion included:

• student services – it would be worth exploring with University of St Andrews, Abertay University and Dundee and Angus College (D&A) if there would be benefits to shared student, mental health, health and disability services. This would need to be sensitive of the distinct skill sets involved, and the distinction between online/remote and in-person services
• estates services – there are challenges around loss of staff combined with restrictions on outsourcing but also opportunities including the Dundee City District Heat Network
• IT services – shared services could be explored where it is a new area but is very challenging for established areas where institutions already have their own different systems in place
• shared services opportunities are worth pursuing, including in the context of the Carrington review, but they do involve significant costs, complexity and longer timescales – so they are unlikely to help substantially with the immediate stability challenge
• there is also the issue of VAT applying to shared services which could undermine savings
• it is worth making the distinction between areas where specifically regional solutions can be pursued with local partners vs wider national issues such as those identified in the Carrington review
• further engagement with local partners would be helpful following the VSS scheme
• there is significant engagement currently with NHS but this can also be explored further

Wider discussion:

Student services

• think about duplication. Many universities use the library as the ‘front door’ for student services
• there are already in place shared education services such as pathways and articulation agreements
• potential for shared student mental health, health and disability services – could be shared with NHS too
• there are an increase in mental health issues
• all are under resource constraints – possibilities for sharing across education and NHS by working in a more coordinated way – recognised that there are pros and cons for this
• support plans – increase in demand for additional support – increased pressure on disability services

Estates

• current challenges include union scrutiny and political resistance, not the right time to change the models of delivery, difficulties in engaging with VSS
• staff and structures are not currently in place to maximise income streams by using estates and resources
• business continuity planning carried out in 2019 uncovered potential cost savings
• cultural and funding issues are impacting on shared service and resource

Nigel Carrington UK wide review on shared services

Transformation and Efficiency Taskforce: Towards a new era of collaboration

Opportunities to support transformation and efficiency

• pursuing innovative collaborative structures
• sharing more services and infrastructure – a concept supported by 91% of senior leaders surveyed by the Taskforce
• using economies of scale and sector buying power
• supporting digital transformation
• adopting a common approach to assessing efficiency and benchmarking costs
• evolving leadership and governance
• creating the right policy and regulatory environment that helps universities go further, faster

Actions to support these opportunities include:

• producing advice and guidance on themes including digital transformation; federations, group structures and mergers; and shared physical infrastructure
• developing business cases for national level shared initiatives
• developing an approach to support ongoing collaboration and sector improvement
• asking established sector organisations to review approaches to collaboration and take action to support efficiency and transformation
• supporting universities to go further by removing barriers such as VAT restrictions, providing transformation funding to catalyse transformation, and collaborating with the sector to create a funding and regulatory framework that is more supportive of collaboration

General discussion

• student services added to this discussion is a good suggestion
• questions were raised re. who might be involved in the sharing of services and whether all partners are interested in sharing
• the possibility of the taskforce to make the recommendations on shared services was also raised
• it was confirmed that Scottish Goevernment (SG) would be really keen to engage in shared services – to support and facilitate
• concerns raised on the impact on students and the services being reduced
• some issues are national, or regional, as well as those specific to Dundee
• also need to be cognisant that there is a need for mental health services for staff too
• there are advantages of shared student services but reassurance needed that students will not be disadvantaged by that
• people with the right skills and at the right operational level in the organisation need to be involved in the discussions
• it is a complex issue, driven by resource constraint
• balance between benefits of a shared resource, or having local skills in place
• D&A college shared practice on the City Centre Wellgate initiative
• one stop shop is a better experience, with better service
• recognition that this could be a long process
• noted that it can be expensive from a systems point of view – some might need significant resource input
• there may be opportunities in data sharing – e.g. of a project in the Employability Partnership between SDS, Council, College in sharing data to support softer transition points. Opportunity may be available to piggyback on this.  Issues with data sharing agreements that SG could help with
• procurement – D&A College and Abertay University have shared agreement in place
• HR – recruitment of staff – opportunity to share this
• share staffing – could be an opportunity to have an agreement in place to offer vacancies across the regional education sector before advertising externally
• noted current HR systems sometimes present barriers and extend the process
• highlighted current duplication e.g. in careers and employability that could be addressed
• suggestion re digital learning – sharing skills or content creators – potential to create a ‘Dundee standard’ in terms of approach to pool resources
• noted that the matra around shared services is a good idea in principle but it does need to be recognised it takes time, investment and patience
• opportunity to do things Scotland-wide where appropriate
• requirement for a proper business model recognised
• ensure that whatever is taken forward in this space is making things better
• VAT issues may be implicated for shared services set up
• shared services have additional costs and outsourcing – cost to end user can be higher (e.g. Costa agreement for cafe)
• as far as possible it is preferable to have resources in house which protects jobs and ensures the living wage
• supporting and retaining staff in the sector is a good opportunity to keep knowledge and skills across education in the region and provide better job security – sector approach is worth exploring
• outsourcing provides more resilience – risk to compliance issues when staff are not available (due to leaving, sick leave, retirement)
• it is important to consider rationalising in all areas and mapping the opportunities and duplication
• VSS considerations – looking at impact on each individual case – service and teaching continuity must be managed
• it was recognised that, as illustrated by the taskforce presentations highlighting the strong contribution of medical and dentistry etc, staff have been delivering high quality provision and research at the same time as the university is facing the current challenges

Actions

• NHS to discuss the possibility of sharing student mental health services – identify the key networks in the NHS to benchmark what is already being done and look at what is being done in other areas. NHS then to facilitate UoD to have the conversations to maximise useful conduits and networks
• D&A college to share the discussions and learning that have been taking place around the Dundee city centre one stop shop

Recommendations

• bring together a working group to map the opportunities and duplication
• cross benefit analysis to be carried out following the results of the VSS