TWO Anglican universities - Bishop Grosseteste, Lincoln, and St Mark and St John, Plymouth - have new Vice-Chancellors. Both took up their posts this month.

At Bishop Grosseteste, the Revd Professor Peter Neil succeeded Professor Muriel Robinson, who has retired after leading the institution for ten years. Professor Neil was previously at the University of the West of Scotland, where he was interim Dean of the Faculty of Education, Health, and Social Sciences

St Mark and St John's new Vice-Chancellor is Professor Cara Aitchison, from Edinburgh University, where she was head of Moray House School of Education, and chair of social and environmental justice. She succeeds Professor Margaret Noble, who has moved to New Zealand.

Bishop Grosseteste and St Mark and St John, both founded in the 19th century to train teachers for C of E schools, are among the smallest of the 14 members of the Cathedral Group and the most recent to be granted full university status after the size requirement was lowered to 1000 last year.

Both are retaining the genuine occupational requirement that the most senior posts are held by practising Christians.