ARCHBISHOP of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols has been appointed the first Chancellor of St Mary’s University in London.
His appointment will take effect from September 1 and he will be formally installed as Chancellor at a ceremony later this year.
St Mary’s, which is based in Twickenham and is home to the Centre for Irish Studies, was established in 1850 as a Catholic teacher training college.
With an original intake of just six students, it has now grown to around 6,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students across four academic schools.
Of the new appointment, St Mary's Chair of Governors Bishop Richard Moth said: “We are honoured that Cardinal Nichols has agreed to become the first ever Chancellor of our University. It underlines our long Catholic tradition which is at the heart of all we do.”
Cardinal Vincent Nichols added: “St Mary’s enjoys a long and distinguished history and many generations of Catholic teachers have received the foundations of their service there. Among them I count my own father, Henry Nichols.”
St Mary's achieved a full university title by the Privy Council in January and became St Mary’s University, Twickenham.
