Vice-chancellor to retire earlier

THE vice-chancellor of Bangor University, Professor John G Hughes, who was due to retire at the end of the academic year has announced that he will be retiring at the end of this month.

Chair of council, Marian Wyn Jones said: “Given the number of challenges currently facing the university, many of which affect its strategy, direction and long-term success, we concluded that it would be in the university’s best interests for those issues to be dealt with by a team which will be able to see through the changes, not only during the forthcoming months, but crucially also into the next academic year.”

As a result, Professor Hughes has agreed to step aside sooner than announced, and will be leaving at the end of this month.

As previously announced, the university will shortly be advertising for a successor. In the meantime Professor Graham Upton will be appointed as interim vice-chancellor from January 1, and will be stepping down from his role as a council member.

Professor Upton led Oxford Brookes University for 10 years. Prior to that he was a pro vice-chancellor at Birmingham University and a dean and head of school at Cardiff University. More recently, he was interim vice-chancellor at Birmingham City University.

Having spent his childhood in Australia, he studied for his PhD at Cardiff and his academic expertise is in the field of education psychology and special educational needs.