Prof Gillespie resigned a month later after the university defended a £7,000 business trip he took to Hong Kong with a colleague.

Amanda Millar, the university’s court chairwoman, resigned with immediate effect last week., external

Senior lecturer and local UCU branch co-president Dr Melissa D’Ascenzio said: “We are striking against the threat of compulsory redundancies.

“What is clear to us is that the deficit has not been caused by staff costs.

“We were told for months in 2024 that we were doing really well, that the University of Dundee was doing better than other Scottish universities.

“Then suddenly in November there was this change in the financial position and we were told we had this big deficit.

“If we don’t really know what has caused this financial crisis, then cutting staff is not the answer.”