Professor Farwell has led the university for nine years and oversaw its transition from a university college to full university in 2007.

She said she believed ¡°passionately¡± in what Bucks New did 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,¡± she said.

¡°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.¡±

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The university is to seek a new vice-chancellor to take forward what it said was Professor Farwell¡¯s ambition ¡°to integrate 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.

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¡°We aim to have a new vice-chancellor in post at the start of 2015 to build on her many achievements, including gaining full university status in 2007.

¡°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.¡±

As well as her role at Bucks New, Professor Farwell has been a member of the board of the Higher Education Funding Council for England since 2009 and is former chair of GuildHE.

During her career, she has been a pro vice-chancellor at London South Bank University, the head of the University of Brighton¡¯s strategic planning unit and a research fellow at Imperial College London. A mathematician, she gained her PhD from the University of Kent.

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One of the small number of female vice-chancellors in the UK, she wrote for Times Higher Education last year about her own experience of rising up the ranks.

simon.baker@tsleducation.com