Scotland’s six post-92 universities – University of Abertay Dundee, Robert Gordon University, Queen Margaret University, Napier, Glasgow Caledonian and the University of the West of Scotland - are currently in discussions about closer collaboration, with some considering the possibility of a single federal university. 

Professor Bernard King, principal of Abertay Dundee and a vocal advocate for the ‘post-92s’, has a lead role in the discussions.  He argues that though Scotland’s new universities contribute directly to the economy, their value is not properly recognised or funded in the Scottish higher education system.  Collaboration would be a way for the institutions to pool resources and maximise their impact, he believes.   

“My passion is to ensure that Abertay is a university which I am proud to lead, employing really bright people who enthuse and inspire our students to do their very best… Now you don’t do that in the absence of research funding and my passion has been to get that funding for the post-92s. 

“So actually, if we thought about it, we could deliver the best of our products to each other on a collaborative basis; we could share technology and of course, all the money for research,” King argues.   

“So I’ve proposed to my colleagues that we work more collaboratively together, that we share more, maybe we share back of house, we share delivery.”

Discussions have been constructive so far, King says.  Some of his colleagues have been more enthusiastic about the collaboration than others, he reveals but certain universities are keen to make progress: “Some of my colleagues [amongst the post 92s] disagree.  They are prepared to collaborate and would want to collaborate but not in the context of a federal structure or a federation.” 

But other universities, “would be prepared to establish a federal university between us, which would allow us to maximise purchasing, employ the best staff, allow us to plan a coherence of research and provision, not reproduce what we’re doing and use technology in different ways,” he says.

A federal structure would afford a number of benefits, King believes, including an ability to fund more research, an opportunity to provide a better link to further education colleges and to deliver improved student services.

“So, for example, we would do new things together, probably combine our portfolios, enrich our portfolios, jointly deliver on emergent areas, internationally market combined portfolios and perhaps provide the best type of back-up services for our students in careers, in counselling, in support – there’s a whole lot of things that we would get through critical mass.  It’s very exciting,” he states. 

A name for the potential federal university has not yet been addressed, King says but suggests that “University of the East of Scotland” could be an effective international brand.

This comes ahead of the final report of the Joint Future Thinking Taskforce on universities – between the Scottish Government, the Scottish Funding Council and universities - expected to be published this week.  The group’s interim report advocated collaboration between institutions. 

As the only university in the UK with Skillset accreditation for computer games and computer arts, Abertay specialises in the creative industries and last year one of its teams won the first-ever BAFTA awarded for a video game developed by a group of students.  King argues that post-92s like Abertay interface directly with industry and in the current economic climate, this central role in the economy is more important than ever.

“Abertay was set up as an industrial university to meet the needs of industry, commerce and the professions.  So I have no problem with trying to meet those needs.  That was my purpose; it’s our mission… I firmly subscribe to it.  I do genuinely believe that for an institution, the mission of which is to meet the needs of industry, commerce and the professions, that actually, we have something to do with the economy.  And so it’s not just an ivory tower of blue-sky research with an endless public purse of money that allows me to do things I feel like doing.  Sorry, it’s a grown up world now, a credit-crunch world and I think we’ve all got to play a part in trying to develop the economy,” he says.