Appointments

RESEARCH COUNCILS Sir John Cadogan is to serve as director general of research councils for a further two years. Sir John was appointed in January 1994 for three years. Ian Lang, president of the Board of Trade, said Sir John has done an "excellent job" in driving through the changes called for in the 1993 science White Paper.

STUDENT LOANS COMPANY Former television boss Ronald Norman has been appointed chairman of the Student Loans Company. Sir Ronald, former director of Tyne-Tees Television Ltd and currently chairman of the Teesside Development Corporation, was appointed for a fixed three-year term starting on August 5. He will receive Pounds 20,000 pa for six days a month. Alexandra Bennigsen, managing director of communications agency KLP Bristol, and Sir Eric Ash, professor of physics at University College London, have been reappointed non-executive directors.

Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research Gillian Shephard has reappointed the following to the governing body: Barry Jones, head of modern languages, Homerton College, Cambridge; Richard Townsend, principal, Dunraven Upper School, Lambeth.

New appointments: Janet Halliday, general education adviser in modern foreign languages for London Borough of Harlow; Hilary Footitt, head of languages, University of Westminster.