Swinney: Reasonable for ex-Dundee University principal to return £150,000 payout

First Minister John Swinney has said it would be “reasonable” for a former principal of the cash-strapped University of Dundee to return a £150,000 payment he received when he stepped down.

Professor Iain Gillespie told MSPs on Thursday it was not in his “thought process” to hand back the cash, although he accepted the “buck stops with me” for the university’s difficulties.

He stepped down from his post at the university – which is looking to cut hundreds of posts as it tries to deal with a £35 million deficit – in December.

He told Holyrood’s Education Committee, which is examining the difficulties faced by the institution, that the university had a “contractual obligation” to pay him the cash.

Prof Gillespie insisted it was “not in my thought process to repay a contractual obligation to me for my work at the university” – although he added later he would “reflect” on the matter.

Mr Swinney however later insisted: “I think that would be the right thing to do because the University of Dundee is facing an acute challenge.”

A report into the situation at Dundee by former Glasgow Caledonian University principal Professor Pamela Gillies last week heavily criticised Prof Gillespie.

Asked if Prof Gillespie should give back the money, the First Minister said: “Given the awfulness of the Gillies review of the handling of the finances of the University of Dundee, I think that would be a reasonable thing to do.”

His comments came after Education Committee convener Douglas Ross branded Prof Gillespie a “coward” and accused him of having “created this mess and walked away into the sunset”.

Pressing the former principal over his time in charge, Mr Ross asked him if he was “incompetent or corrupt” – with him replying he was “certainly not corrupt” so he would “have to choose incompetent”.

Prof Gillespie began his evidence to the committee with a “heartfelt apology” to staff and students at Dundee – which is to receive an additional £40 million from the Scottish Government to help its financial situation.

“Let me start off with an apology to the staff and students,” he told MSPs.

“I think staff and students deserve better than they have had with the management and the governance of the University of Dundee over quite some time, but particularly over the period of 2024.

“It’s a heartfelt apology for a university that I love, and a city that I hugely respect.

“I accept the buck stops with me. That is why at the end of last year I left.”

Mr Ross said the Gillies report showed Prof Gillespie had “dangerous over self-confidence and complacency”, and an “overbearing leadership style”.

Prof Gillespie said that description was “not something I recognise” – although he later told how a complaint had been made against him in a previous job at the Natural Environment Research Council about his “overbearing behaviour”.

Prof Gillespie stepped down as principal at the University of Dundee in December, recalling this happened after others at the institution told him they had “no confidence” in his leadership.

He told MSPs it was “possible” he had then resigned by text – though he said he may instead have sent an email confirming his decision.

Mr Ross told him: “The only thing I thought about you was you are a coward.

“You couldn’t go back to the university and face the staff who were losing their jobs, face the students whose studies were so badly disrupted.

“You just created this mess and walked away into the sunset.”

Challenging him on the payout, Mr Ross told Prof Gillespie he had been given “over £150,000 to walk away from a university you almost destroyed”.

He asked the former principal: “At any point have you considered paying that money back?”

Prof Gillespie said the university had a “contractual obligation” to pay him the money.

While he said he took “overall management responsibility for what happened at the University of Dundee”, he told Mr Ross he would “push back” against the claim that he “almost destroyed it”.

Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie also pressed for Prof Gillespie to give back the money.

He told the former principal: “To hold on to that just seems astonishing with the pain other people are feeling.

“I just genuinely want you to think about that, because I think it would send an important message.

“It wouldn’t repair the damage but it would send an important message.”

Conservative MSP Miles Briggs said giving back the money could be a way for Prof Gillespie to “send a message to students, to the staff who are left at Dundee, that you understand your role in this saga”.

The former principal told him: “You are one of several members of the committee who have suggested that and I will reflect on that.”

Prof Gillespie also hit back at claims from former Holyrood minister Wendy Alexander, who was vice-principal international at the university for almost a decade.

In a submission to the committee, Baroness Alexander had said she was “frozen out” and then “asked to leave” her post after raising concerns about university finances.

Prof Gillespie insisted he did “not want to get into a slagging match about people’s characters”, he told MSPs: “Wendy’s performance in terms of delivering student numbers wasn’t what we needed it to be.”

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