A reprieve for Dundee
The University of Dundee has confirmed that it will continue to offer undergraduate mathematics beyond 2026, reversing its earlier proposal to suspend new recruitment from 2027.
Welcoming the decision, CaMS Chair Professor Mark Chaplain said: “The university’s proposals were always ill-advised, and it’s hard to believe that they were brought forward at all, but it’s extremely welcome that they have now been altered.”
Rather than scrapping the discipline, the current undergraduate mathematics programme will run unchanged through the 2026/27 and 2027/28 academic years while a redeveloped version is prepared for launch in 2028/29.
The initial proposals were described as ‘”academic vandalism” by Professor Chaplain in media coverage secured by CaMS in the Financial Times, The Herald, The Courier and BBC Radio Scotland. Chris van der Kuyl CBE, the Chair of 4J Studios which brought Minecraft to consoles, made a powerful case for protecting Dundee’s maths department in the FT given the city’s historic role in the UK video games industry.
While the decision on mathematics is a significant and welcome improvement, it does not remove the wider difficulties facing the University of Dundee. The Scottish Government, through the Scottish Funding Council, has committed up to £62 million of additional support across the next two years. These pressures continue to have serious consequences for staff.
CaMS recognises the extremely difficult circumstances facing staff across the University, including those whose roles remain at risk. Protecting undergraduate mathematics is therefore an important victory, but it should not obscure the scale of the financial and workforce challenges Dundee continues to face.
Professor Chaplain added that “ we will continue to campaign because, in spite of all the evidence, the department is still in the firing line to lose staff and if the relaunched degree is to be a success it will need teaching excellence and sufficient staff numbers to attract the necessary students to be viable.”
You can access The Herald’s article here
