Dundee University’s new interim principal Nigel Seaton was sailing around the Mediterranean when he got the call asking if he would take over after the abrupt exit of Shane O’Neill.
Within a matter of hours last Thursday he had paused his retirement to take on the daunting task of ensuring the university’s survival.
“I wouldn’t have done this for any other university in the world,” Professor Seaton told The Courier in an exclusive interview.
He was speaking alongside acting court chair Ian Mair just 12 days since he took over from Mr O’Neill – who quit minutes after the findings of the independent Gillies Review were published.
Both men recognised trust in the leadership of the institution had been destroyed and acknowledged it would take time to rebuild support.
New principal had ‘six hours notice’ before taking over
Professor Seaton retired in 2021 after a decade as principal of Abertay University. He was on holiday with family when he got the call.
He explained: “I wasn’t looking for a job. I had six hours notice before I took over.
“I wouldn’t have done it for any other university in the world. I think I’ve got the skills to do this.”
Mr Mair – a graduate of the university – is similarly new to his post. He joined the governing court in August and took up the role of acting chair when his predecessor Tricia Bey announced her immediate exit on June 19.
‘We can’t do it alone’
He told The Courier he would still have joined even if he knew back then what was coming.
In an interview focussed on the recovery, both men stressed their confidence in the university’s survival.
But Professor Seaton says doing so will require “arm in arm” support from government and the wider community in Dundee.
“We can’t do it alone,” he added.
The Scottish Government has so far announced £62 million in financial support for Dundee University.
Mr Mair says that while hope and trust have been destroyed, neither could be the sole strategy for recovery.
‘We can’t just hope Dundee University will be here in five years’
The accountant, who previously worked in finance roles for Tesco, said: “We clearly need to do the work that takes out any elements of trust or culture from the decision making. It needs to be about real information to the right people to make good decisions.
“We can’t just hope that the university is going to be here in five years time.”
A fuller recovery plan will be submitted to the SFC by August. Professor Seaton says key to this will be the current plans for a voluntary severance scheme which aims to reduce the workforce by 300 full time equivalent roles.
But he admitted that if more than 300 staff volunteer to go the total head count reduction may be higher.
“We’ve set a target of 300 and we’re making good progress towards that,” he said.
“The test of success is really going to be how many people volunteer and how many people we feel able to accept, because we won’t accept if it damages the working of the university.
“We know that the gap between income and expenditure is much larger than would be addressed by the 300. It will not be addressed by 300 people who decide they want to go.
“If it’s more than 300 and if it’s people that are in roles where we think we can manage with some adjustment, then it’ll be good if more people go.”
Compulsory lay-offs ruled out
He ruled out the use of compulsory lay-offs for now, adding: “This is a pure voluntary severance exercise. There’s no plan to have redundancies afterwards. There’s no secret plan B where we might have redundancies.”
Pressed on how staff support would be won over for this latest plan, he said he is committed to openness and correcting the “guarded” approach of his predecessors, but the recovery would be drafted by senior leadership.
“The senior team does it in consultation with the governing body and keeping the funding council informed,” he said.
“It’s not a collective activity with staff and students. There isn’t time to do it and actually there isn’t the level of trust to do it.
“When we get on to strategy it’ll be a different thing.”
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