Dundee University students attend digital rally to oppose school merger
Dundee University students have attended a digital rally following plans to merge three academic schools in an urgent bid to save the university millions.
The digital rally was organised by Dundee University Student’s Association (DUSA), which took place on January 10 at 18:00, had staff and students in attendance who opposed the incorporation of the Schools of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education and Social Work into the provisionally named: ‘Walker-Geddes School of Humanities and Social Sciences’.
The merger is estimated to save the university £3 million but is part of the wider ‘Academic Excellence and Structure’ project of three core proposals to save the university £8.5 million by 2024/25.
The announcement to incorporate the schools by September 2021, in time for the next academic year, prompted staff, students and DUSA to express their concern over the plans, their proposed timescale and their ability to consult on the proposals under current Covid-19 restrictions.
DUSA President, Scott Quinn, said: “The Health and Safety of students, staff and the wider community is our biggest concern and the guidance against in-person gatherings mean our students are not able to protest in the normal way.
“There is a clear need for the University of Dundee to work with their 17,000 students, to value their contributions and ensure that the student experience isn’t impacted further.
“Students need honesty, transparency and more time to feed into the process.”
A group of students, including Joshua Harper and Tara Jones, wrote an open letter to DUSA , which was signed by 400 people in 15 hours, that criticised the student’s union initial lack of response to the plans prior to the rally.
Joshua Harper, Editor-In-Chief of the Magdalen Magazine and a fourth year Politics and International Relations student, said: “We feel that as students we have been, to some extent, forgotten about during the pandemic and I think that this really and very forcibly exacerbated that feeling.
“It felt like our institution didn’t care about us.
Tara Jones, also a fourth year Politics and International Relations student, said: “I think that the UEG [University Executive Group] have used this to their advantage. They know that we cannot organise protests and sit-ins, like those which have been done successfully in previous years and they also know that everyone is fatigued.
“It seems to me like these plans were released just before the Christmas break in an attempt to mitigate the action that could be taken against them but rest assured, once we are in a position to do so, once the immediacy and threat of the pandemic has passed, people will mobilise in person against the proposals — even if that is August.”
Following the rally, a further open letter has been written to the University regarding the proposals and a campaign hashtag (#UoDSaveOurSchools) was launched.
The University did hold a series of open meetings with staff and students in November and December last year as part of a wider effort to improve the university’s long-term financial position by a total of £56 million.
Beyond the school merger, an additional £38.6 million will come from a rise in International fees, £2.5 million in the teaching and research improvements, £3 million from the closure of the Ninewells Medical Resource Unit and its relocation to the main University campus.
A further £9 million still needs to be sourced from alternative means.
A University spokesperson said: “We [have] heard concerns about some of the impacts of the proposals but also a lot of positive and constructive suggestions.
“We are also aware that the new Covid-19 restrictions have created additional work and uncertainty for staff just at the time that the Walker-Geddes consultations were planned to be at their most intense.”
The University has extended the consultation period of the proposals into early February.
To stay up to date on the proposals, visit: www.dusa.co.uk/merger
