* Sir Alan West, former First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, is to be the first chancellor of Southampton Solent University.
* Robin Jackson has been appointed chief executive and secretary of the British Academy. Dr Jackson is currently a director at the Higher EducationFunding Council for England.
* The University of Central Lancashire has appointed: Brad Gibson , previously head of the cosmology and galaxy formation group at Swinburne University in Melbourne, professor in theoretical astrophysics; and Ulrike Zeshan , previously of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, professor and director of the International Centre for Deaf Studies.
* Martin Reynolds has joined Anglia Ruskin University as dean of the Ashcroft International Business School. He recently held the post of dean of Nottingham Trent University's Business School
* Pete Cooper , director of finance at Dundee University, has been appointed chair of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy's Further and Higher Education Panel.
* The Department for Education and Skills has announced the appointment of three new higher education members of the board of the Training and Development Agency for Schools: David Green , vice-chancellor and chief executive of Worcester University; Christopher Husbands , professor and dean of the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of East Anglia; and Deborah Eyre , professor and director of the National Academy of Gifted and Talented Youth.