DJCAD Degree Show Paints a Picture of Student Worries
- editorinchief32
- May 26
- 3 min read
Nick Whelan
A student-led demonstration, showcasing the university crisis, has taken place across the highly coveted DJCAD degree show.
One of Dundee University’s most attended calendar events opened last weekend and showcases over 450 students artwork. There is something for everyone with exhibitions from the fine arts, architecture, urban planning, animation, textiles, jewellery & metal design and beyond.
Among students' artwork, demonstration spaces (with permission from the artists) have been occupied by posters drawing reference to the financial crisis the university is facing.
Finn Millar, the demonstration’s lead, proposed the demonstration to students upon the announcement of the initially planned 632 redundancies. Stating it was:
‘an opportunity for our year to make a real lasting impact on this university and play a role in saving the jobs and livelihoods of the staff who got us to where we are today’.
Millar continued, noting it was ‘also an opportunity to ensure future students get the best quality of education they can and keep this university alive’.
The posters make reference to the level of the financial deficit, the potential job losses faced by the university, students worries, local politician's reactions to the scandal, and quotes from emails received by staff from the university’s Principal at the time.
The financial deficit was announced just weeks before Iain Gillespie’s (the principal at the time) departure. Significant job losses have been announced alongside plans to cut module delivery by 20%, with students and staff facing uncertainty over the future of the institution.
Gillespie has faced significant criticism regarding excessive spending when travelling abroad, and a lack of transparency surrounding the crisis, the timings of such, and who among the management knew what and when.
Among the reasons for the crisis, as given by management, were falling recruitment of international student numbers across the board. This is disproportionately worse at Dundee, caused by a tightening of immigration policies by the previous Tory government, and global inflationary crisis’, limiting the spending powers of these students.
Whilst the sector in Scotland is perceived not to have tuition fees, the Scottish government awards a set-rate fee for home students at undergraduate level, (currently 2/3 £1820 per year). This fee has not changed since 2009, meaning a year on year real terms cut for 14 years.
Alongside this, grants from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) are given for courses that are deemed strategically important (and expensive) to deliver, such as medicine and engineering. Grants are also made for widening access programs. To see a better breakdown of the funding, see here.
However, questions still remain regarding the extent of the deficit, and ho it was allowed to develop to a level where a closure or default of the institution was on the table. This is something largely unseen across the sector despite sector-wide financial pressures faced by universities.
As the crisis has unfolded, numerous external investigations into the financial management of the university have been announced. Notably, one by the SFC.
Recently, an alternative pathway to recovery was announced, proposing the number of job losses to amount to 300, which are to be achieved via a voluntary redundancy scheme. Interim Principal (who took over in December),
Shane O’Neill said ‘we have sought to find a financially viable way forward that would mitigate substantially the immediate need for large numbers of job losses’, through ‘positive and constructive’ engagement with the SFC and other key stakeholders to develop the alternative pathway towards financial recovery.
As previously reported by the Jute Journal, the University and College Union (UCU) Scotland welcomed the announcement of an alternative pathway, stating that the backtracking away from the 632 figure was undoubtedly down to the relentless pressure from the Unions, students, staff, local community and voices across the political spectrum.
It is estimated that 1 in 7 of the cities population are students here in Dundee. This is the second highest proportion of students by population in Europe, of whom, many are international or non-local. With various businesses and enterprises relying strongly, if not solely on the university.
The potential impact of a collapse would be devastating to Dundee and the wider academic and education sector.
The Jute Journal will be covering the demonstration in full, with exclusive interviews from organisers, and artists from the show. Keep an eye out for this!
The degree show continues to run until Sunday 1st June open from 10am-4pm (10am-8pm Thursday 29th). It is Free entry with no ticket needed!
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