Regent’s University London is announcing the retirement on 31 July 2019 of Professor Aldwyn Cooper, Vice Chancellor and CEO of the University. Professor Cooper has taken the decision to step down earlier than the initial date of July 2020 due to ill health.
Professor Cooper has been the driving force at Regent’s since December 2006, when he took up the role of Principal and CEO of Regent’s College. Over the past 12 years, Professor Cooper has led the institution through a period of unprecedented changes and significant challenges, including the granting of Taught Degree Awarding Powers in June 2012, the approval of university status in March 2013, and subsequent rebranding of Regent’s College as Regent’s University London.
His work made an immeasurable contribution toward the sustained growth and ever-increasing public profile of Regent’s, now widely recognised as a provider of high-quality education with an exceptional and high-achieving alumni base.
Dr Diana Walford CBE, Chair of the Board of Trustees, noting Professor Cooper’s decision to retire, has said, ‘As the University’s first Vice Chancellor and CEO, Aldwyn has set an amazingly high bar for his successors in the years to come. In recognition of this the Board has been very pleased to confer on Aldwyn, when he retires, the title of Professor and Vice Chancellor Emeritus, as a mark of distinction and prestige.’
When Professor Cooper’s retirement was initially announced in July 2018, he said: ‘The last twelve years have been challenging but also exciting and rewarding. I have very much enjoyed working at such a cosmopolitan institution with excellent students, staff, alumni and trustees. As a charity, Regent’s has an established set of values that I believe fully to be needed by those who become leaders in this increasingly turbulent world.
‘As a team, we have achieved a great deal in the last decade. The government has identified us as an exemplar of what can be achieved by a private, not for profit, self-funding institution. Research at Regent’s has increased and will increase further. We are a very special and different higher education institution and should remain so.
‘My time at Regent’s has been the high point of my career.’
The University has already embarked upon a comprehensive search process to appoint Professor Cooper’s successor, and further information about this appointment will follow in due course.