Ray Dowd, principal and chief executive of Hopwood Hall College, Rochale has been appointed principal and chief executive of Wirral Metropolitan College. He will succeed Jenny Shackleton, who is taking early retirement in the summer.

Mr Dowd will face a tricky situation at Wirral, where the former board of governors resigned in February after being threatened with the sack for "mismanagement".

The college also has a Pounds 9 million deficit. Plans to sell off one campus to help pay its debts have met with violent opposition from the local community but are likely to go ahead because of the need for cash.

Dianne Willcocks, assistant principal at Sheffield Hallam University, is to become principal at the College of Ripon and York St John. She will join the college this summer, replacing acting principal, Keith Anderson, who succeeded Robin Butlin last September. Professor Butlin left after governors disagreed with his plans for college restructuring.

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Andrew Thompson, assistant principal for science and health at Plymouth College of Further Education and a research associate of the Open University, has been appointed vice-principal of North East Surrey College of Technology from August.

Peter Morgan, head of the molecular neuroendocrinology unit at the Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen, will become director of the institute in June. He succeeds Philip James, who retires after 17 years in the post to concentrate on consultancy work.

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Andrew Church, lecturer in geography at Birkbeck College, has been appointed professor of geography at the University of Brighton from this summer.

David Gordon, director of special initiatives at the Wellcome Trust, has been appointed professor of medicine and dean of the faculty of medicine, dentistry and nursing at the University of Manchester from September.

Stephen Williams, reader in biophysics at the Institute of Child Health, University of London, joined Manchester this month as professor of imaging science in the medical school.

David Hopkins, senior lecturer in biological sciences at the University of Dundee and last year's Erskine visiting fellow at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, has become professor of environmental science at the University of Stirling.

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Margaret Noble, director of the postgraduate office and educational development at the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside, has been appointed director of lifelong learning at the University of Teesside.

Richard Horrocks, dean of the faculty of technology at Bolton Institute, has been appointed a member of the government's textile and clothing strategy group, which will report over the summer on plans to develop the British textile industry.