The De Montfort University (DMU) Board of Governors is in receipt of a letter from former partner, Study World, threatening DMU with legal action for breach of contract. The partnership was set up to establish a DMU Dubai campus in 2022. The letter claims that Study World helped to grow DMU Dubai over the following three years into “a significant contributor to education in the region”. The letter expresses regret that DMU Leicester terminated the agreement in April 2024.
If legal action in the Dubai courts were to be successful, DMU would be liable for a settlement of up to £3mn, the contract liability cap. An initial investment for set-up costs of £42mn was raised by Study World and associated investors, which Study World claims needs to be reimbursed. It is not yet clear whether Study World intends to pursue DMU for a claim on the initial investment. DMU claims it is not liable to pay any reimbursement under the terms of their contract.
In September 2024, DMU Dubai moved to a new campus and the website states that “DMU Dubai is operated by DMU Leicester, which has a strong, secure financial position.” This claim directly contradicts the rationale for redundancies in Leicester that our university is financially precarious and insecure.
In the worst case scenario, Study World’s threat of legal action could make it impossible for DMU Dubai to continue and could pose an existential threat to DMU Leicester, which has already engaged in a far-reaching programme of cuts, including over 100 jobs on the line. This latest crisis arises from the actions of DMU executives, sanctioned by the Board of Governors. Following a spate of no-confidence resolutions, staff and students at DMU have had enough.
DMU Dubai and DMU Leicester in jeopardy
My previous article argued that investments in London and Dubai are part of a strategy that results in asset-stripping DMU Leicester and running the campus down. This strategy poses a major threat not only to staff and students but also to the economic, civil and cultural wellbeing of Leicester.
It now turns out that things are far worse than we thought. Study World’s threats to sue DMU involve costs running to several million pounds. Unbeknown to us, DMU terminated its partnership with Study World in 2024, who allege that the termination was unlawful on several counts. The DMU Executive alleges that Study World was in breach of its contractual obligations, claiming that it terminated the contract following legal advice.
We can make no comment on the legal rights and wrongs of the situation. The chair of the Board of Governors has indicated that the matter is in the hands of lawyers and that it considers aspects of the letter to be inaccurate and misleading.
Nevertheless, the threat to our university is dire. Should legal action occur and should the Dubai courts rule in favour of Study World, DMU Leicester will incur costs on a scale that at best will lead the executive to make further cuts, and at worst could threaten the future of the institution both in Dubai and in Leicester.
A risky venture?
Whatever happens, the Study World letter indicates that the Dubai operation was founded on high risk speculation that will never benefit Leicester. As recent events testify, Dubai exists in a potentially dangerous geo-political environment and according to the government, the United Arab Emirates is vulnerable to terrorist attacks. It is an authoritarian state with little tolerance for dissent, according to an article by Human Rights Watch in 2018. It shares none of DMU’s professed values and poses a threat to staff from LGBTQ+ backgrounds. But, even if Dubai was a reputable place to invest, the Study World letter is evidence that the DMU executive may have failed to negotiate and manage this overseas partnership competently.
It has also come to light that Study World was involved in protracted litigation with Heriot Watt University. We await clarification of when DMU became aware of this and what measures it took when it learned of that case.
Very few people at DMU knew about the termination of the Study World contract until the letter was leaked. The staff see this case as a characteristic lack of transparency from the Executive about a major university project, which may involve harm to DMU Leicester, without consultation, effectively going behind our backs and against our will. We do not want our institution to be brought down by this and will not accept job cuts to pay for the costs of Dubai or any legal costs arising from the Study World letter.
Time to go: overwhelming call for the DMU VC and Executive to resign
The previous Central Bylines article reported an unprecedented Vote of No Confidence in the Vice Chancellor (VC) and Executive Board by the University Professoriate. Since then, three further no-confidence resolutions have passed by a Town Hall Meeting open to all staff, a formal vote of the DMU UCU branch and an open letter from a group of over 170 concerned students and alumni to the VC, Executive and Governors.
The latter will be particularly devastating reading for executives, who represent themselves as guardians of the “student experience”. Running to thirty pages of personal testimonies and quotes, the Open Letter delivers a damning verdict.
The student voice: DMU staff supported, Executive slammed
“The real cost of layoffs is our learning experience, which has already been tainted and degraded by austerity measures”.
“Our institution in Leicester is crumbling and the Executive sees fit to set money alight building campuses in Dubai and London, vastly wealthy areas that simply do not need our investment”.
“The Executive is disinvesting in our Leicester University, where it is an anchor institution meant to provide jobs and education to the area in perpetuity, in order to build a new campus in a tax haven”.
“The choice to invest in Dubai is vile, students were not consulted, it flies counter to every claim the university has made in regard to their advocacy for LGBTQ individuals. The plan to send staff to the region shows blatant disregard for their wellbeing.”
“I don’t want my lecturers to be fired because they are at the heart of my education. The Vice-Chancellor’s plan to cut over 400 jobs at DMU puts the quality of our learning and support at serious risk. Our lecturers bring expertise, passion, and personal guidance that shape our university experience and help us succeed”.
The Open Letter’s demands
“We, the grassroots Student and Alumni Action Group, demand the following:
- an immediate halting of the redundancy plan.
- total transparency, without gaslighting students, regarding the rationale for current redundancies.
- total transparency regarding the links between DMU and De Montfort University Student Union (DSU) management.
- that DSU be completely 100% independent from the University.
- that the current DSU Executive, VC Katie Normington, current DMU Executive and Board of Governors all resign”.
No redundancies in Leicester to bankroll Dubai
Our students and alumni have effectively exposed as false that all the financial tribulations facing DMU arise from external factors over which the institution has no control. This latest disaster is a direct consequence of poor decisions from the executive group taken, according to the Chair, Ian Squires, with the full support of the Board of Governors. The governors continue refusing to take our concerns seriously; for example, in an internal email of 6 June, they declared confidence in the VC and Executive only days before the Study World letter became public. The planned redundancies will force staff and students in Leicester to pay an even heavier price. We invite the DMU Executive to refute rumours that a recent sudden and unexplained increase in the supposed deficit arose from costs that could arise from a settlement with Study World.
The situation at DMU is now intolerable. The VC, Executive and Governors have no remaining credibility, legitimacy or consent with staff or student bodies. The management culture at DMU is such that if it had not been leaked, staff would still be in ignorance of the threat posed by Study World.
We therefore call once more on civic leaders to support a demand that mass redundancies and speculative ventures immediately be halted, pending a fundamental strategic review by all Leicester stakeholders of what DMU can and should be in future. This call is eminently realistic. Elsewhere in the country, compulsory redundancies are being scrapped at Newcastle University, and executives being removed at Dundee, as it is finally recognised that ‘business management’ is doing far more harm to our institutions than even the government. Please help us win our university back!
Please note that this article has been updated due to a correction request.
