Prof Dame Joan Stringer to retire from Edinburgh Napier University post

THE first woman to become vice chancellor of a Scottish university is to step down after 10 years in the post.Professor Dame Joan Stringer is to retire as principal and vice chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University in June 2013, it was announced today.

Dame Joan was the first woman to become vice chancellor of a Scottish university when she took up her post in January 2003.

She said: “The last decade has been the most fulfilling of my professional life and I pay tribute to my outstanding team - present and past - for working so hard to deliver an outstanding experience for our students and ensure that our knowledge and expertise is used for the benefit of the economic, social and cultural health of Scotland and beyond.”

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She added: “During my time at Edinburgh Napier, I have become as much a businesswoman as an academic, but I have never forgotten the life transforming importance of higher education for individuals nor its capacity to deliver for the greater good.”

Over the last decade, Dame Joan has overseen a £100 million estates strategy which changed the face of the university’s Craiglockhart campus and resulted in the total redevelopment of its Sighthill campus.