Image source, scottish parliament

Gillepsie was challenged earlier on whether complaints had been made about him during his career.

The former principal initially could not recall any complaints, before later conceding there had been one such case.

Wille Rennie tells the committee the individual who complained about Gillespie's behaviur at Nerc has just contacted him saying the experience had left them "completely broken".

"I'm afraid that tells us a lot about you," says Rennie in relation to the academic's inability to recall the complaint.

Committee chairman Douglas Ross asks if Gillespie knows the total cost of a trip he took to Hong Kong.

Gillespie says he does not.

Ross tells him it was £7,000 and asks if that was value for money.

Gillespie says he was brokering a partnership with Hong Kong University of Medicine, meeting alumni and “looking for opportunities for advancement”.

Ross says over £4,700 was spent on business class flights on that trip, while another senior staff member sat behind Gillespie in premium economy.

Gillespie says he had an agreement in place with the university that he would travel business class on long-haul flights.

Ross reels off some of Gillespie’s other 11 trips over a two-year period, including those to Iraq and Malawi.

Gillespie says the university was trying to set up working agreements with universities in Malawi, Nigeria and Ghana, among others, to “develop opportunities” in research, invest in Africa and “create a welcoming environment” for students arriving in Dundee.

He says African students were “incredibly appreciative” of the work they had done.

Tory MSP Miles Briggs asks if Gillespie ever struggled in his role as principal.

Gillespie replies any principal that says they did not struggle in the role would be "delusional".

He says he suffered from a level of "imposter syndrome" at the beginning of his tenure as he lacked experience in the education system.

Briggs says the Gillies Report says Gillespie displayed "hubris and excessive pride".

The Tory MSP turns to the academic's expenses and points out the Gillies Report highlighted "extravagant spending"

Gillespie defends his expenses but concedes it perhaps came across as extravagant.

Briggs points to his use of first class travel and top hotels and that the auditor took umbrage about this.

"It just had to be the best for you wherever you were going," says Briggs.

Gillespie insists he did not book the hotels but that they were booked at a cheaper, corporate rate.

The pressure from around the table has been unrelentingpublished at 10:17 British Summer Time 26 June

10:17 BST 26 June

Phil Sim
BBC Scotland political correspondent

This has already been one of the most brutal committee grilings I can remember.

A “heartfelt” apology, accusations of lying and cowardice, demands to pay back severance - and that was all inside the first 15 minutes.

There is sometimes an ebb and flow to these meetings as different MSPs take over the role of inquisitor.

But this has been pretty unrelenting - so far, every single member has been damning in their questions and their assessment.

Image source, PA Media

Committee chairman Ross points out 17 senior members of staff left Dundee University while Gillespie was in charge.

Four directors of people, three finance directors, three directors of external relations, three directors of strategy and four chiefs of staff all left in Gillespie's four-year tenure, Ross says.

He asks whether Gillespie ever thought he was the issue.

Gillespie says he does not believe he was the problem, and says a number left because of the “challenging environment” they were in.

Douglas Ross returns to the fray and asks about complaints about Gillespie while he was at the Natural Environment Research Council (Nerc).

Gillespie says, after having time to reflect: "In my time at Nerc there was one member of staff who did make a complaint against me," and he explains the complaint was about overbearing behaviour.

He adds he is "very disturbed" to hear that the complainer says it's too upsetting to talk about the complaint a decade on.

Willie Rennie says Gillespie's behaviour at Leicester University was "widely known".

As the accusations fly, Gillespie looks like he's holding his ownpublished at 10:07 British Summer Time 26 June

10:07 BST 26 June

Kirsten Campbell
BBC Scotland political correspondent

There was a lot of speculation in Holyrood yesterday about whether Prof Iain Gillespie would actually turn up to today's session.

But so far this is a very confident performance from the former principal, who is showing no signs of feeling intimidated by the scrutiny of the committee.

Despite being accused of being a coward who created this mess and walked off into the sunset, he is holding his own under pressure.

He has offered a heartfelt apology to staff and students, to the university and the city, but says he doesn't recognise the management style attributed to him in the report.

That report can't have been pleasant reading. In it he was accused of “over self-confidence and complacency, often in combination with arrogance, contempt towards people who offer criticism and obsession with personal image and status".

Back to questioning from committee member John Mason, who questions how closely Gillespie monitored bank covenants - likening it to people taking out an insurance policy without reading the small print.

Gillespie says he “did not pay sufficient attention” to the university’s covenant commitments.

He says if he had done, he would not have waited until September or October of last year to talk to the finance director about them.

Gillespie tells the committee it was “a failure” on his part to recognise the importance of covenants.

Earlier in the meeting, Holyrood education committee convener Douglas Ross asked Prof Iain Gillespie if he has ever considered paying back the £150,000 he received when he left Dundee university.

Prof Gillespie resigned in December as the extent of the university's financial crisis emerged.

He was paid six months' salary when he resigned and he says this was a contractual agreement and it was not in his thought process to pay it back.

Independent MSP John Mason asks why cuts were not made in 2023/24.

"There was a push down on the recruitment of staff," replies Gillespie.

"Other universities seem to have been a bit quicker in making people redundant," says Mason.

"Dundee appears to have been very slow compared to others in making redundancies."

Gillespie admits: "Yes, we were slow at making redundancies.

"We spent more cash than we could afford to spend."

Willie Rennie goes on to ask Gillespie how many times he has faced complaints over his conduct during his career.

Gillespie says there were none at Dundee.

Rennie asks about complaints in his previous roles at the Natural Environment Research Council (Nerc) or the University of Leicester.

Gillespie says he does not recall.

Rennie questions whether Gillespie or “the system” ever asked anyone to sign a non-disclosure agreement at Nerc or Leicester.

Gillespie says he “does not remember any such instance”.

Willie Rennie is next up to grill Prof Gillespie and highlights the fact that the former university principal is not prepared to pay back his £150,000 severance package to the university.

He adds it does not look like the academic feels the pain that people are going through.

"Do you understand how angry people are?"

Gillies replies: "I definitely understand how painful this is and that people are angry."

Rennie says "just pay the £150,000 back" - it won't solve everything but at least it would be a positive statement.

Gillespie does not respond.

Gillespie denies claims he did not support a voluntary severance offer for staff.

He is responding to Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy, who says a suggestion by the university’s executive group to offer voluntary redundancy to staff after issues around finances became apparent was “rejected and resisted”.

Gillespie says that is “certainly not true”.

He says the debate about the voluntary severance package was whether it would be “sufficient” to get to the required cost savings..

It's now the turn of Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy to put her questions to the academic and she begins by saying Wendy Alexander raised concerns about the number of international students on a number of occasions.

She says it was convenient for Gillespie to ask Wendy Alexander to go "quite far away".

"There was nobody presenting any challenge to yourself at the time."

That was certainly not the case, insists the professor, who adds that Wendy Alexander's concerns were never ignored.

"They were explored, they were discussed and they were acted upon," he says.

Gillespie insists it was the chair of court who made the decision that vice-principals would not attend the court.

"It's simply not true to say that advice (from Alexander) was given and ignored," says Gillespie.

"The notion from Wendy that she did not agree with the globalisation strategy going forward is a false representation."

The issue of her being sidelined is also a misrepresentation, he claims.

Ross asks why a package for Alexander to leave was negotiated.

Gillespie says he “doesn’t want to get into a slagging match about people’s characters,” but says Alexander’s performance “wasn’t what [we] needed it to be”.

He says he proposed Alexander going on a recruitment drive to North America because she knew the continent well by virtue of spending time in Canada. Gillespie says had “good contacts,” which would create opportunities for the university to recruit students.

He says Alexander had “constantly talked about moving on” and her role was created as a “glide path” for her to do that.

Image source, PA

On Wednesday the committee saw a written submission from former MSP Wendy Alexander, who claimed she was asked to leave her senior post at Dundee University after asking "uncomfortable" questions about the institution's finances.

Alexander was the university's vice principal international for almost a decade but retired last year rather than accept what she said was the offer of a "package and trips".

She said "cakeism, profligacy and hubris at the very top" led to "a failure to reign in expenditure" and that she "chose not to be bought off".

She said former principal Prof Iain Gillespie, who was heavily criticised in a recent damning report into the university's finances, "made clear" he wanted her to leave last October.

Alexander's comments were made in a statement, external submitted to Holyrood's education committee.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

We are now starting to hear about a submission by former Labour MSP Wendy Alexander on why she quit as vice principal international at the university.

SNP MSP Fitzpatrick goes on to ask the professor when he became aware how bad the financial situation was at Dundee university?

"When did that first become a red flag?"

Gillespie says there were "levels of challenge" and it had "long-term financial challenges for some considerable time."

He says international student numbers were "booming" after Covid and had a "profitable exit" from the sale of a life-sciences spinout company.

Gillespie says it had a "stronger, but not strong" financial situation than it had in the past and he believed it was the opportunity to invest in growing the university.

He says the real financial challenges started to come in 2023/24 when international student numbers fell.

"For us, that happened perhaps more precipitously than others, partly because of the markets the University of Dundee had depended on."

Committee member Joe FitzPatrick asks Gillespie why the university invested so heavily in the “risky” international student market when data from the 2023-24 period showed numbers of those students were coming down.

He also asks why staff numbers to deal with those students also increased in that time.

Gillespie says Dundee university was “very reliant” on students from Nigeria, India and China in particular, many of whom came to study at the school of business.

He says the drop was initially caused by the removal of dependant visas for the families of Nigerian students.

Gillespie says the university’s “over-recruitment” in 2023 had compromised its “academic integrity”.

He says a number of students arrived “unable to pay their fees,” and support had to be provided by the university and Dundee City Council.