Part of First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 2 October 2025.
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
In dialogue with the Funding Council, the Government is taking forward an approach with the University of Dundee—which I have repeated to Parliament on numerous occasions—that will protect the character and identity of the University of Dundee and its significance within the city’s economy and the regional and national economies of Scotland. The original proposals that came forward from the University of Dundee were unacceptable to the Government, because that test would not have been met. That is the test that the Government is applying.
There will obviously be the development of individual plans, and I appreciate the importance, necessity and urgency of clarity about plans. That is what the Government is working on with the Funding Council. However, I assure Mr Marra that, in response to its willingness to invest to support the university’s transition, what the Government is seeking is a university that will remain the strong asset to the city, region and country that the University of Dundee is. That is the test that we are applying to those plans.
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