The University of Dundee¡¯s former vice-chancellor has said he will reconsider whether to return?a ?150,000 payout he received after being accused of ¡°walking away from a university you almost destroyed¡±.?

In a bruising and highly charged meeting of the Scottish education committee, Iain Gillespie was asked whether he was ¡°incompetent or corrupt¡± after admitting his knowledge of key financial arrangements at the institution was ¡°very poor¡±.

Gillespie left Dundee late last year as the dire state of the finances of the university became clearer. It has since had to shed hundreds of jobs and has received more than ?60 million in government bailouts as it grapples with a projected ?35 million deficit.

Appearing in front of politicians for the first time since his resignation, Gillespie was called a ¡°coward¡± by Douglas Ross, the convener of the committee, who said: ¡°You created this mess and walked away into the sunset.¡±

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Gillespie¡¯s leadership was heavily criticised in a damning report?released last week which said he had ¡°frequently demonstrated hubris¡± and possessed a ¡°dangerous over self-confidence and complacency, often in combination with arrogance, contempt towards people who offer criticism and obsession with personal image and status¡±.?

The former vice-chancellor told MSPs that he ¡°did not recognise¡± this description of himself.

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He apologised for his role in the crisis, saying that ¡°staff and students deserved better than we¡¯ve had with the management and the governance of the University of Dundee over quite some time, but particularly over the period of 2024. That¡¯s a heartfelt apology to a university that I love in a city that I have huge respect for¡±.?

Ross asked Gillespie whether he would return a ?150,000 payout he received from the university ¨C six months of his basic salary ¨C adding ¡°[you were given] ?150,000 to walk away from a university you almost destroyed¡±.?

Gillespie said it was ¡°not in his thought process¡± to return the money, which had formed part of his contract, but following further pressing from politicians said he would reconsider this position.

Last week¡¯s report, written by Pamela Gillies, former vice-chancellor of?Glasgow Caledonian University, found that the university had ¡°not controlled its cash in a meaningful way¡±, which resulted in ¡°the breach of two banking covenants, both of which should have been identified prior¡±.?

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Gillespie said that he had been unaware covenants had been breached until reading about it in the report, and said his knowledge of these arrangements was ¡°very poor, very weak¡±.? ¡°This was never ever reported to me to my knowledge. It was never put to the finance committee.¡±

MSPs said it appeared that the wider senior management team ¡°was not up to the job¡±, after a previous meeting of the committee heard from the university¡¯s former director, Peter Fotheringham, who said that he and his team ¡°struggled to stay on top of everything¡±.

The committee further noted that 17 members of the senior management team had left the university during his tenure, and Gillespie became emotional after politicians read a statement by a former colleague, who had issued a complaint against?his ¡°overbearing behaviour¡±, which said that working with him had left them ¡°broken¡±.?

Ross said that the complaint backed up the leadership style outlined in last week¡¯s report and showed a ¡°pattern of behaviour¡±.

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Concluding the committee, Gillespie was asked: ¡°You were either incompetent or corrupt. Which was it?¡±

Gillespie replied: ¡°I¡¯m certainly not corrupt, so I¡¯ll have to choose incompetent.¡±?

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juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com