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Politicians must ‘up their game’ on Scottish university crisis
Members and supporters of the University and College Union (UCU) Scotland during a rally at Buchanan Street in Glasgow, February 2023

POLITICIANS must up their game and ditch the marketised model which has left deficits soaring and jobs in peril across Scotland’s universities, trade unions have warned.

The exhortation comes after a tumultuous week in the sector, as the University of Dundee announced plans to axe 20 per cent of its workforce — 632 jobs — in a bid to close a £35 million black hole in its budget. 

Over the weekend, SNP education secretary Jenny Gilruth announced £10m in extra funding to the sector in a bid to ward off compulsory redundancies, but with eight of the country’s 18 universities running deficits totalling £218m, STUC general secretary Roz Foyer has warned ministers “cannot just keep putting sticking plasters on gaping wounds.”

Responding, Sir Peter said Edinburgh was “not immune to the challenges that the higher education sector is currently facing.”

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