BBC Scotland News
The former principal of Dundee University has offered a “heartfelt apology” to its students and staff, and said he would “reflect” on returning his £150,000 payoff.
Prof Iain Gillespie resigned from the university in December, shortly after revealing the institution’s eight-figure deficit and a warning of hundreds of job losses.
He told Holyrood’s education committee he was “not a coward” for walking away but had failed in his role to “take responsibility” as accounting officer and principal.
Asked if he was “incompetent or corrupt” Prof Gillespie said: “I’m certainly not corrupt, so I’ll have to choose incompetent.”
The academic was heavily criticised over his role in the university’s financial crisis in a recent independent report led by Prof Pamela Gillies.
The university faces a £35m deficit and is expected to cut 300 roles through a voluntary redundancy scheme.
The Gillies Report said Prof Gillespie had an “overbearing leadership style” and a dislike of potentially awkward questioning and confrontations.
The professor said the report had been a “forensic piece of work” but he “did not recognise” the description of his management style.
The report said the main causes for the university’s £35m deficit included poor financial judgement from university management.
Prof Gillespie’s replacement and former deputy Prof Shane O’Neill resigned immediately following the report’s publication last week, along with acting chair of court Tricia Bey.
Committee chairman Douglas Ross highlighted the 12 occasions the Gillies report said Prof Gillespie “should have and could have” known about problems earlier. Ross asked if he cared about this at all.
Prof Gillespie 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.”
Prof Gillespie told MSPs he accepted the fact that his view of the university’s finances were “incorrect” but insisted he did not have “the full picture.”
Asked by chairman Ross if he was a “coward” for “walking away into the sunset” after “creating this mess”, Prof Gillespie replied: “That’s for other people to comment on, I don’t think I’m a coward.”
He said he resigned as “the buck stops here” but defended not handing back the six months salary he received after leaving in December.
Prof Gillespie explained: “That was a contractual obligation from my employer to me. It was not in my thought process to repay a financial obligation.”
However, when pushed on the matter of repaying the money, Prof Gillespie said he would “reflect” on it with his family.
Speaking after the evidence session, First Minister John Swinney said that giving the money back would be “the right thing to do” given the “awfulness” of the Gillies report and the “catastrophic leadership failure” at the university.
Trips abroad defended
Prof Gillespie defended trips abroad, saying the university was trying to set up working agreements in Africa to “develop opportunities” in research and “create a welcoming environment” for students arriving in Dundee.
Labour MSP Michael Marra put it to him that he was a “good time Charlie” who was “completely inactive” when the finances turned and “couldn’t deal with it.”
Prof Gillespie that was “absolutely not the case”.
Marra asked if it was right to say Prof Gillespie “bet the future of the whole university and the city” on rapid growth from international students.
In reply, he said the university expected continued growth and international student recruitment would go up, but visa changes and other challenges meant that did not happen.
Prof Gillespie also told MSPs:
- He accepted the university was slow in making redundancies in 2023/24 and “spent more cash than we could afford to spend”
- He had no complaints against him during his time at Dundee University
- One member of staff at his former employer, the Natural Environment Research Council (Nerc), had made a complaint about his “overbearing behaviour”.
- Claims by Alexander that she was side-lined were a “misrepresentation” and that her performance “wasn’t what we needed it to be.”
- The first time he was aware the university had breached its covenant with its bank in 2023 was when he read it in the Gillies Report last week and he acknowledged he had not paid sufficient attention to its covenant commitments.
Who else was quizzed by MSPs?
Scottish ParliamentOn Wednesday, the committee heard evidence from three former members of staff at the university.
Dr Jim McGeorge, who resigned as chief operating officer last month by “mutual agreement,” denied claims in the Gillies Report that he had “operated in isolation of the facts”.
Former chair of court, Amanda Millar, who resigned in February, said she was “deeply frustrated and saddened” by the “undoubted pain” of students and university staff.
Meanwhile, Peter Fotheringham, who served as the university’s director of finance until last October, said his team was “seriously under-resourced,” despite the report stating he was “aware in part or totally” of the worsening situation.
In written evidence submitted to the committee, the university’s ex-vice principal international, former MSP Wendy Alexander claimed she was asked to leave her post after asking “difficult” questions about its finances.
