Dundee University- anyone have experience/knowledge/thoughts?

[Helpagirlout222]

My DC was initially keen to go to Dundee. Recent news stories re their financial situation are very much putting them off now! We loved it when we visited and i don't want them to avoid it unnecessarily. But of course I want them to have a great uni experience if possible! Would Dundee be a bad move atm?

I don’t have any special insight but, a lot of universities are making cuts, and I can’t see Scot gov letting Dundee go insolvent mid degree programme? Dundee has been in the press but have you looked at the financial situation of the alternatives? May not be a lot better just Dundee have hit the news first.

I would be extremely cautious. They are cutting so many staff that the ones left will be run off their feet, doing the jobs of theee people. There won’t be time for pastoral care or small group teaching. And certain degrees might well
be cut mid programme - this has happened at other places already

I guess, the degree programmes getting cut are the less popular ones - so maybe what your dc wants to do also matters.

we don’t know that - could be ones with fewer international students, or that are more expensive to run. We will have to wait and see

Having worked in a university there were a lot of jobs they could be cut before anyone noticed a drop in services. I’d be wary of studying a modern language there - that seems to be the first place universities look when they want to cut courses.

Some of the older Scottish unis have vast reserves / investments so are far less likely to actually go under. Take a look at their financial statements. Edinburgh has nearly £3bn in cash reserves whereas Aberdeen has more like £10m.

Thank you all! Lots to think about. It's art their looking at if that makes any difference

Edinburgh's also looking to make 140m of cuts though...

I work at Dundee. Yes it's in a mess but a lot of unis are in a mess and looking to reduce staffing.
DJCAD is a terrific art school and even with job cuts, the lecturers will be making sure students get a great experience. Quite honestly, students are keeping me going at the moment!
If they want to come to Dundee please encourage them. We need next year's first years to choose us as they would have done without the current issues going on.

The difference is Edinburgh isn’t going to go under despite running at a big loss as they have massive reserves to get through yet. whereas other unis who don’t have reserves might.

Take the Glasgow School of Art. The main building burned down, insurance paid out then it burned down again mid rebuild. There was controversy over whether the insurers were going to pay out a second time as the sprinklers weren’t working properly. If they haven’t / won’t pay out then Glasgow School of Art is in deep, deep trouble.

I loved the feel of dundee on the open day, and the art dept was great.
I hope its not too much of a tough time just now, thank you for your reply

Thank you @Helpagirlout222 it's appreciated.

The bigger risk from job cuts - Edinburgh as much as Dundee - is strikes and union action.

Maggie Chapman has just been appointed rector of Dundee. That may appeal to you - or not.

My daughter wants to do art at Dundee, starting 2026, so also wondering the same.

DJCAD is an amazing art school, if they do the course she wants she should definitely apply.

Student satisfaction with university life is very high in Dundee, there’s lots to do, it’s not to big, accommodation is cheaper than in Glasgow and Edinburgh, it’s near beautiful countryside for walking, cycling, sailing etc

Both my DD's are at Dundee and loving it but the senior management appear to be utterly incompetent and there is no sign of any coherent plan to get on a stable financial footing. There is a distinct possibility that certain courses could be discontinued.

Yeah I was going to say! Maggie Chapman (or Maggie PersonPerson as someone on the feminist board christened her 😅) is shall we say...not the best! She's been spouting off a lot recently and generally looking at her history she just doesn't fill me with confidence that she would have any intelligence or gravitas to fit that role.

The role of rector is different to in schools, she's going to be the students' representative rather than a headteacher type role.
At grassroots level we are busy getting ready for our new 1st year students and looking forward to the year ahead. Very much business as usual!

My DD is planning to apply to DJCAD ( illustration)… Edinburgh is her current first choice, but I think that is almost entirely because she is more familiar with the city… we were both impressed with the mini open day… first open day of any kind I’ve been to where an actual activity/ teaching took place! Staff seemed great…

Apologies for being pendantic and off topic but…
pp implied that Edinburgh university was older than Aberdeen university
sorry but you are out by nearly 100 years!

Aberdeen university was established in 1495

edinburgh university was established in 1583.

(Edinburgh is a behemoth compared to Aberdeen; Edinburgh long ago swallowed up moray house and art college and has a student populations of around 50k compared to Aberdeen’s 15k

Edinburgh is my Alma mater and I have been to graduations at both institutions recently and was presently surprised in Aberdeen with the conferment of degree in Latin and singing the graduation song which I’d never ever heard of but it brought a very much ancient and traditional feel to celebrations)

It was reported in Dundee courier the other day the 430 employees have applied for redundancy.

This is true, there are about 3000 employees though, so probably staff to student ratio (as student numbers are lower across the sector with international visa changes, falling birthrate etc) will not be that different.
The whole sector is contracting and a lot of highly ranked unis are doing voluntary severance schemes.

Yes but that’s a big percentage of reduction in staff at Dundee, 14%.

At Edinburgh uni numbers of staff taking redundancy was reported in the newspapers in April of this year was 350 and their staff is approximately 15.5k so a smaller 2.3% reduction

We were told it needed to shrink by about 1/6th, it is cyclical though, about every 10 years we have a Vs scheme to shrink the wage bill, then after a few years we employ more people again, then the wage bill goes up too much, this is the third time there's been a Vs scheme since I've worked for them. I predict it won't be the last one either!

DD is also interested in art at Dundee. We went to the mini open day (and made the camera 😆) . She is keener on Edinburgh than Dundee but didn’t get the results in her highers that Edinburgh wants. She’s just started S6 so will pick up a few more highers.
I must admit I am a bit worried about dundees financial state , and also about their shambolic leadership. But will see how it pans out. I think Dundee would suit her