Councillor shares concerns over university classes

FOLLOWING concerns from constituents, a Dundee councillor has expressed dismay at the closure of Dundee University’s School of Humanities’ educational and creative adult education classes in April.

Fraser Macpherson has written to principal Professor Sir Pete Downes to pass on the views of local residents.

He said residents are concerned that the replacement — a suite of creditbearing modules — will be more costly and deviates from the principles of the adult education classes that have been so successful over the years.

He said: “These adult learning courses have run for many years and have been really successful. Many, but not all of the students, are at or beyond retirement age and many are already well-qualified, so replacing the courses with award bearing courses will end a long tradition of offering general interest courses to members of the public.

“It seems such a shame to end the courses and I have asked the university for a rethink.”

Professor Downes said: “These courses are replacing our previous provision, which was no longer sustainable and did not align with the priorities of the School of the Humanities and of the university.

“The university’s contributions to the local community are very important to me and to many of our staff and students. The breadth of these depends on building sustainable models of delivery wherever possible.

“I expect adult education will remain an important part of our work with the local community but we need to consider adult education in a broader context and across a wider range of subjects and disciplines.”

He added that there will be modules available in English, history, creative writing and philosophy from the start of the next academic year and that there will be an option to opt-out of studying for credit.

Fraser Macpherson