University of Buckingham: One of UK's leading private universities appoints Sir Anthony Seldon as vice-chancellor

The political biographer and pioneering private school headmaster will take over in September

Sir Anthony Seldon on ITV's This Morning (Steve Meddle/ITV/REX)

One of the UK’s most controversial universities has appointed the high-profile political biographer and private school headmaster Sir Anthony Seldon as its new vice-chancellor.

Sir Anthony will take over at Buckingham University, the UK’s first private university, in September. He had already announced he would step down as Master of Wellington College, in Berkshire, this August to spend time with his wife, Dr Joanna Seldon, an academic who has been diagnosed with incurable cancer. Yesterday he said they had decided it would be better for him to keep working full time.

Buckingham, which has proved contentious ever since it was founded in 1976 and gained university status in 1983, has been without a permanent leader since Professor Terence Kealey stepped down last summer ahead of an investigation into allegations of bullying and erratic management.

The University of Buckingham is the only independent university in the UK with a Royal Charter, and probably the smallest with just around 1000 students (Corbis)

Last month it was accused by critics of being too close to climate-change scepticism – something the institution denies – after it was revealed that it had appointed the well-known anti-wind farm campaigner John Constable to head a new energy institute.

The university already has links to former Chancellor Lord Lawson’s Global Warming Policy Foundation lobby group, whose director, Benny Peiser, occasionally lectures at Buckingham. Last October the Charity Commission ruled that the Foundation had breached the rules on impartiality in its climate-change coverage.

When appointed to Wellington in 2006, Sir Anthony said he aimed to restore the school to its former glory as one of Britain’s great schools. He brought in the International Baccalaureate as an alternative to A-levels and GCSEs, introduced “well-being” lessons and character education and opened schools abroad, as well as sponsoring a state-school academy.

“I am delighted to be taking over at the University of Buckingham, which my father, Arthur Seldon CBE, helped to found 40 years ago,” he said. “I am looking forward to building on the excellent work of Professor Terence Kealey and working with the outstanding staff to make it a truly pioneering academic institution.”