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Swansea University has suspended its vice-chancellor Richard Davies, while an ongoing internal investigation is carried out.

In an email to Swansea staff, seen by Times Higher Education, registrar and chief operation officer Andrew Rhodes said that the dean of the School of Management, Marc Clement, and two other members of staff at the school had also been suspended.

¡°Given that this is an ongoing process, it would not be appropriate for me to give any more detail at this stage, but I can assure you that the matters under investigation do not concern the academic performance of the university or its financial well-being,¡± Mr Rhodes writes.

¡°I appreciate that a lot of questions will arise from this message, but it will not be possible to provide more detail at this time,¡± he continues. ¡°I would like to reassure you that the senior management team, heads of college, professional services directors of the university and myself are all working closely together to make sure the university continues to thrive and to conclude this very difficult matter.¡±

Mr Rhodes will carry out the functions of the vice-chancellor until other measures are put in place. Professor Davies has been vice-chancellor at Swansea since October 2003.?

A Swansea University spokeswoman said: ¡°We can confirm that the vice-chancellor, Richard B. Davies, and Professor Marc Clement have been suspended, pending the outcome of on an internal investigation. We are not making any further comment at this stage.¡±

anna.mckie@timeshighereducation.com