Jenny Marra MSP welcomes SNP climb down over universities merger
29th September 2011
Speaking on the day that Alex Salmond faced an embarrassing climb down over proposals to merge Abertay and Dundee Universities Jenny Marra welcomed the guarantee.
It had been revealed over the past week that the Scottish Funding Council had given the institutions only 5 weeks to talk about merging.
This led to a campaign by students, staff and people in Dundee which resulted in a groundswell of opinion against a merger.
Jenny Marra said: 'I was relieved to hear the First Minister say today that there will not be a forced merger between Abertay and Dundee Universities.
'The SNP government has had to respond to huge pressure from staff, students and people in Dundee who know that the two universities work well together, side by side.
'It is especially relieving for the government to clarify that there will be no forced mergers at this time of year when students are deciding which universities to apply to.
"The promise of no forced merger removes the uncertainty that can harm applications and student numbers.
"The Government has had to back down in the face of pressure from Dundee.
Speaking on the day that Alex Salmond faced an embarrassing climb down over proposals to merge Abertay and Dundee Universities Jenny Marra welcomed the guarantee.
It had been revealed over the past week that the Scottish Funding Council had given the institutions only 5 weeks to talk about merging.
This led to a campaign by students, staff and people in Dundee which resulted in a groundswell of opinion against a merger.
Jenny Marra said: 'I was relieved to hear the First Minister say today that there will not be a forced merger between Abertay and Dundee Universities.
'The SNP government has had to respond to huge pressure from staff, students and people in Dundee who know that the two universities work well together, side by side.
'It is especially relieving for the government to clarify that there will be no forced mergers at this time of year when students are deciding which universities to apply to.
"The promise of no forced merger removes the uncertainty that can harm applications and student numbers.
"The Government has had to back down in the face of pressure from Dundee.
"It is a welcome decision."
