Ex-Principal Gillespie Made £300,000 Watching University Decline

By Connor Bertie

Base-rate salaries of the UEG show that they made a collective minimum of £1.6m per year as they watched their university crumble.

Pictured: Ex-Principal Iain Gillespie (Right). Photo: X

The UEG, meaning University Executive Group, that together make up the senior management of Dundee University, have been and will again attend a Parliamentary Education Committee meeting. This is to happen in the coming weeks. The meeting will focus on the UEG’s failure to identify and solve a £35m deficit, resulting in proposed job cuts.

“DUCU members are extremely distressed to learn for the first time through the media that 700 individuals will be affected by the proposed 632.4 FTE job cuts,” said Dr Melissa D’Ascenzio, Co-President of DUCU. At least 700 jobs are now on the line, despite an initial estimate of 632 in February, and this secondary figure is expected to climb much higher.

“These are 700 dedicated members of staff that are likely to lose their careers and livelihoods because of management’s failure to administer the University finances.”

“It is deeply unfair that staff must pay for managements’ failures."

An external investigation has now been launched into the financial crisis, with current and past UEG members pledging to co-operate with the Investigatory Team, headed by former Caledonian University Principal, Professor Pamela Gillies. Shane O’Neill, Dundee’s Principal, has sent out another email yesterday to emphasize his support on the matter, however, this is yet to be seen as it unfolds.

"Last month," continued Dr D’Ascenzio "at Holyrood’s Education Committee, MSPs from all political parties made it clear to representatives of the University Executive Group and the Chair of Court that this level of redundancies is not acceptable. It is regrettable that the University is still ploughing ahead with the consultations on the existing plan, when they reassured the Scottish Government that they would look at alternatives together with SFC and the campus unions.”

In the meantime, before a thoroughly-grilled Gillespie exits from the next Parliamentary meeting, we can take an insightful look into what the salaries were of those who oversaw the crisis.

The crew who abandoned the ship before all the passengers were safe, and escaping with their annual incomes were as follows:

Principal & Vice-Chancellor Iain Gillespie: £300,000 per year

Chief Operating Officer Jim McGeorge: £180,000 per year

Vice-Principal Lady Wendy Alexander: £170,000 per year

Director of Finance Peter Fotheringham: £130,000 per year

Gillespie also accepted a pay increase of £35,000 between the 2023/2024 financial year.

Grilled: O'Neill during Education Committee meeting. Photo: BBC

Other positions within the UEG are as follows:

Deputy Vice-Chancellor & Provost Shane O’Neill: £180,000 per year

Vice-Principal of Enterprise & Economic Transformation: £140,000 per year

Director, University Executive & Strategy Officer: £100,000 per year

Vice-Principal of Education: £140,000 per year

Director of People: £120,000 per year

Shane O'Neill is currently the Principal of Dundee University, having taken over after Iain Gillespie's desertion in November 2024.

Dundee University has been hailed as 'University of the Year 2025' by the Daily Mail. The irony now sitting within that statement needs no further explanation; but there is hope that the institution can bounce back from this crisis.

Pictured: Incorrect