THE PRESIDENT of NUI Maynooth resigned yesterday after securing a prestigious post in Wales.
John Hughes is stepping down to become vice-chancellor or chief executive of Bangor University.
Although he kept a low public profile, Prof Hughes was highly regarded across the education sector for his work in boosting the university’s reputation.
He leaves at a time when Maynooth is working on closer links with Dublin City University(DCU) and the Royal College of Surgeons.
Prof James Walsh, the deputy president, is a strong contender to replace Prof Hughes who was in the sixth year of a 10-year term.
As vice-chancellor, Prof Hughes will receive an annual salary of about £189,500 (€228,000). The salaries paid to university presidents in the Republic were criticised by former education minister, Batt O’Keeffe, last year.
In Maynooth, Prof Hughes earned more than €200,000 as president but, unusually, he also made special provision for performance appraisal during his term in office.
Last year, Maynooth made its first appearance in the Times Higher Educationworld rankings; NUI Maynooth is ranked between 400 and 500.
Prof Hughes has also overseen the tripling of research income – from €10 million in 2004 to €34 million in 2009. Since 2008 NUI Maynooth has topped the league table here for research income per academic. It has also doubled in size to more than 8,000 students.
At undergraduate level, Maynooth’s number of CAO first preferences has increased by more than 50 per cent since 2005. Average entrance points for students has risen from under 400 points to 425 in the same period. Postgraduate student numbers have increased by more than 50 per cent to 1,800.
The university has also developed strong links with industry in recent years, particularly Intel, with whom it has established the Innovation Value Institute, a global research centre.
Prof Hughes has also overseen the establishment of major partnerships between NUI Maynooth and universities in China, Europe and the US. He will be only the seventh vice-chancellor or principal in Bangor’s 126-year history. He will take up his post in the autumn.
A mathematician and theoretical physicist, he became professor of information systems engineering, and later dean and then pro-vice-chancellor (research) at the University of Ulster from 1991 to 2004. He has been president of NUI Maynooth since 2004.
Prof Hughes said yesterday he was “attracted by the history and culture of Bangor and by its reputation for excellence in research and teaching”. He has promised to learn Welsh in his new post but his appointment has already attracted some local controversy over the language issue.