ABERYSTWYTH University has begun advertising for a new vice-chancellor to replace Prof April McMahon, with the closing date for applications later this month.

The university is being run on an interim basis by acting vice-chancellor Prof John Grattan as the institution seeks a new leader to replace Prof McMahon who left in July after taking a step back from her duties in January, and is now understood be working at Kent University.

Prof McMahon arrived in Aberystwyth from Edinburgh University on a five-year contract.

Announcing her intention to step down last December, Prof McMahon said she was making the announcement “to allow for an orderly handover and for succession planning”.

She said she was “immensely proud” of the work she had done, adding it had been a “pleasure and a privilege to serve and lead” the university and to work through “the difficulties we have had to confront”.

The advert for the position, which will carry a salary of over £200,000 a year, seeks an “exceptional individual” to lead the university.

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