One of the biggest campaigns Dundee has ever seen will oppose the forced merger of its two universities, a union figure has promised.
Dr Andy Samuel, the secretary of Abertay branch of the University and College Union, said staff had reacted with ”complete and utter disgust and horror” at the shock proposal made last week by the higher education funding body.
Staff, students and other supporters were preparing to assert the need for the independence of both universities and prevent the ”catastrophe” of a merger.
The UCU, which represents academic staff, is worried about the potential for job losses, but also the negative impact on educational diversity and on the national agenda of widening access to higher education.
The universities received letters on Thursday from the Scottish Funding Council calling on them to start merger talks.
The SFC has refused to comment on the letters, sent after Education Secretary Mike Russell signalled that he would be seeking powers to force through tie-ups between universities.
Dr Samuel said the letter had been ”unbelievable” and added: ”I have never seen anything like it. It’s forcing the agenda. Where this is coming from, I have no idea.
”We have been talking to the Dundee University branch of the UCU and we will be organising a huge campaign, hopefully with the students and the local colleges, to assert independence. We feel we deliver the post-16 education agenda better than any other region because of our independence.”
Dr Samuel noted that several SNP ministers had visited Abertay ”extolling our virtues as a university” which made it hard to understand why the Government now seemed intent on forcing it to merge with its city neighbour.
Staff at the university only learned of the SFC’s letter on Friday.’Catastrophe’Dr Samuel said the initial reaction from staff he had spoken to was wholly negative, with anger and frustration at the threat to their university.
“We could be looking at huge redundancies and huge costs for the whole of Dundee. It would be a catastrophe, absolutely.”
He felt sure staff at Dundee University would be equally unhappy at the thought of a merger.
There was a degree of overlap between the universities, but they often took a different approach to topics and were each offering something distinctive, he said.
“There is no question of us competing with Dundee we complement each other,” Dr Samuel continued. “We will be working for the independence of both institutions.”
The UCU would be open to the idea of having “grown-up” discussions about Abertay’s relationship with higher and further education institutions in the area, with scope for greater collaboration between them. But a top-down, forced merger was unacceptable.
Dr Samuel said Abertay was looking at offering sports degrees and working with colleges to make sports facilities available.’Distinct’Janice Aitken, president of the Dundee University branch of the UCU, said: “The city of Dundee is a fantastic centre for innovation and creativity. One of the cornerstones of our ability to deliver that innovation is the fact that we have two excellent and distinct institutions of higher education.
“The access to a wide range of courses afforded by these, as well as the quality and diversity of research, are essential to the economic and cultural life of the city and beyond.
“As well as our serious concerns about the effect a merger would have on access to higher education in the region, we are particularly keen to avoid the staff cuts and redundancies that would inevitably result from such a move.”
A UCU branch meeting this week will discuss the way forward.
A business leader has said that should a merger go ahead, it must be not be allowed to harm the “fantastic” links the universities have with industry.
Alan Mitchell, chief executive of Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce, said they both had global reputations in fields such as life sciences and computer gaming.
If forced together, the chamber would “very much hope they would retain their excellence in these fields” as the consequences if they did not would be negative for the city and the wider Scottish economy.