THE Vice Chancellor of Buckinghamshire New University will retire in 2015.

Professor Ruth Farwell will stand down early next year after a decade at the helm of the High Wycombe-based university.

She successfully gained full university status in 2007 for the then-named Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College.

Prof Farwell said: “I believe passionately in what BNU does for students but feel that this is the right time for me to retire.

“We have set in place a vision of a professional, practice-based and industry-related university, which I believe is hugely important for our students, helping them bridge the gap between education and their chosen careers.

“We have developed a strong base for learning in partnership with important employers.

“Great opportunities lie ahead and this is the perfect time for a new leader to expand what has been achieved with both public and private sector employers.”

BNU said it plans to have a new Vice Chancellor in place for the turn of the year to take on Prof Farwell’s ambition of ‘integrating university education with the workplace’.

Dame Christine Beasley, Chair of the University’s Council, said: “We are extremely grateful to Ruth for her unreserved commitment and dedication throughout her nine years as head of the institution.

“Ruth has steered the university through dramatic changes in higher education that have put much more emphasis on the need to prepare students for the world of employment.

Bucks New University is at the forefront in pioneering higher education, linked to the world of work.”