Exclusive:The £131,000 travel bill racked up by a cost-cutting Scottish university principal

Professor Iain Gillespie, vice-chancellor at Dundee University, faced criticism this week over his spending, including a £7,154 trip to Hong Kong last year.

Emerging just days after Prof Gillespie revealed the university was facing a reduction in staffing as a result of a budget deficit of up to £30 million, the reported use of business class flights was branded "irresponsible".

Now, The Scotsman can reveal the university’s full £131,000 spending on travel, accommodation and subsistence for the principal between the middle of 2021 and 2024.

It includes trips to China, where the university has partnerships, with the principal taking flights costing £5,870 for a visit in April this year. This follows invoices for £8,527 and £4,017 made for flights in September last year, and another £4,158 payment for China flights in May last year.

Other spending on international flights included £6,214 to go to Johannesburg in 2022, and a further £3,570 to go to Accra in Ghana in February 2023, alongside a £1,118 bill for three nights at the city’s five-star Marriott Hotel.

Then there were invoices worth £5,793 for flights to Kenya and Malawi in March last year as well as £4,472 in May for a visit to Iraq, which was followed by £7,113 to go to Kenya, Malawi and South Africa a few months later in August. There was also £4,744 spent for flights to Nigeria in October of the same year.

The invoices show £4,743 was paid for Hong Kong flights in November last year, as well as £677 for two nights at the five-star Grand Hyatt Hotel.

In January this year, £4,389 was spent on flights to Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, followed by £5,993 to go to various locations in south-east Asia in March this year.

Other Scottish university principals have also been accused of “needlessly extravagant expenditure”. A recent Scotsman investigation found close to £4,000 was spent on chauffeur-driven transport in one year by Andrea Nolan, the principal and vice-chancellor of Edinburgh’s Napier University.

Sir Peter Mathieson at Edinburgh University also regularly stays in five-star hotels while overseas. Heriot-Watt University’s principal, Richard A Williams, racked up a bill of more than £106,000 in just two-and-a-half years on hotels and flights outside Europe, with the bulk related to the university’s hubs in Dubai and Malaysia.

Prof Gillespie was shown to have taken a £290 taxi to travel the 63-mile distance from Dundee to Edinburgh for a meeting with the Scottish Government last August.

A Dundee University spokesman said: “The principal’s travel and expenses cover a three-year period and reflect the extensive nature of the university’s national and international activity.

“We have significant partnerships around the world, and are always exploring opportunities for further collaboration. Our global activity brings in million of pounds to the university every year, through student recruitment and in-country education and collaboration.

“That income is vital in considering our future sustainability.”