20 November 2008

Sir Alan Langlands appointed Chief Executive of HEFCE

Sir Alan Langlands is to step down as the Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Dundee next year. He has been appointed Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England and will take up his new post on 1 April 2009.

Sir Alan, formerly the Chief Executive of the NHS in England, has been at Dundee for more than eight years. As Chief Executive of HEFCE, he will play a key role in the strategic development of higher education across England and will be responsible for £7.5 billion used to support excellence in education, research and knowledge transfer in universities and colleges which provide higher education programmes.

Commenting today, John Milligan, the Chair of Court at the University of Dundee, said: 'Sir Alan Langlands has made an outstanding contribution to the University of Dundee over the past eight years. The University has made enormous progress under his leadership and he leaves an important legacy - a strong pipeline of funded research, new programmes of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, a strong professoriate, a well motivated community of students and some excellent new facilities and research platforms. I congratulate Sir Alan on his new post and wish him well for the future.'

Mr Milligan also said that 'the University will move quickly to appoint a new Principal and interim arrangements will be announced early in the New Year. Sir Alan will remain in charge until the end of March 2009.'

Sir Alan Langlands said: 'I am enthusiastic about my new post but I will miss Dundee. The University has excellent students and staff and a strong commitment to the economic, social and cultural development of the City. It is a great privilege to be the Principal and Vice Chancellor and I know that the University will move from strength to strength under new leadership.'

For further information please contact:
Roddy Isles (University of Dundee) on 01382 384910 or 07751 314346
Roger Grinyer (HEFCE) on 0117 931 7307

Notes for Editors
The Higher Education Funding Council for England is responsible for distributing £7.5 billion in public funding in 2008-09 to support learning and teaching, research and related activities in English universities and colleges.

Sir Alan Langlands will take over as Chief Executive from Professor David Eastwood on 1 April 2009. Professor Eastwood is taking up the post of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham.

The University of Dundee has established an international reputation for excellence in academic and research performance. The University is a world ranking research institute in life sciences and medicine with key strengths in professional education, engineering & physical sciences, humanities and the visual disciplines. Dundee is ranked by Thomson Scientific Index as 3rd in the UK for impact of scientific research, ahead of Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London.

The University plays an important role in the economic, social and cultural development of Scotland and was named one of the UK’s top 20 universities by The Guardian earlier this year. The University has completed a highly-praised £200million redevelopment of the campus over the past six years, delivering a 21st century campus for staff and students to live and work in.

Biographical Information
Alan Langlands is the Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Dundee. He is also the current Chairman of UK Biobank, a joint venture set up by the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council to oversee one of the world’s largest genetic epidemiology studies, and a Non-Executive Director of the Office for the Strategic Coordination of Health Research and the UK Statistics Authority.

Alan was the Chief Executive of the National Health Service in England from 1994-2000. He has an international reputation in the development of healthcare policy and as a strategic manager of health services and has advised in many countries. He received a Knighthood in the Queen’ s Birthday Honours list (1998) for his services to the NHS and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Alan is a science graduate of the University of Glasgow and received an honorary degree from the University in October 2001. He has been awarded Honorary Fellowships by the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Glasgow), the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, the Institute of Actuaries and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance. He is currently a Trustee of The Nuffield Trust and Chairman-designate of the Health Foundation.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk