Jim Scrimshaw, chair of the Association of Colleges, is to step down because of work demands. His successor will be appointed in May.
John Dickinson, principal of King Alfred's College, Winchester, is taking early retirement because of ill health. He will be replaced by acting principal Chris Turner pending the appointment of a successor.
The University of Birmingham has appointed: Andrew Bradbury, former senior lecturer and honorary consultant surgeon at the university department of clinical and surgical sciences, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, to a chair of vascular surgery; Trevor Burke, former professor of dental primary care, University of Glasgow, to a chair of primary dental care; Leslie de Chernatony, professor of brand marketing at the Open University Business School, to a chair of brand marketing; Edwin Constable, former professor of inorganic chemistry at the University of Basel, to a chair of inorganic chemistry; Catherine Housecroft, Constable's former colleague at Basel, to a chair of inorganic chemistry; Kevin Kendall, professor of materials science at the University of Keele, to a chair of formulation engineering; and Christine Mallin, associate head of the department of finance and business information systems, Nottingham Trent University, to a chair of finance. Nicholas Craddock, professor of molecular psychiatry at Birmingham, has become head of the division of neurosciences in the medical school.
Wolfgang Teubert, senior research fellow at the Institut fur Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, has been appointed to the Collins chair of linguistics in Birmingham's school of English from June.
The University of Manchester has appointed Philip Cerney, professor of international political economy at the University of Leeds, and Gerry Stoker, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, professors of politics.
Stephen Harrison, professor of health policy and politics at the University of Leeds, has been appointed professor of social policy at Manchester.