The Vice-Chancellor of St Mary’s University Twickenham has announced that he will retire at the end of this academic year.
Professor Anthony McClaran joined St Mary’s in April 2020. After navigating the University through the Covid pandemic and successive lockdowns, Anthony has led St Mary’s through a period of sustained development and success. St Mary’s registered its strongest-ever research performance in the Research Excellence Framework 2021 and in 2023 broke into the top 50 of The Times Good University Guide. Academic restructuring and renewal of the portfolio have resulted in new areas such as Physiotherapy, Computer Science and the launch of SMU Online, alongside long-established strengths in Teacher Education, Sport and Health Sciences, and Theology. In September this year, St Mary’s will open its School of Medicine in the newly constructed Centenary Building, the latest in a series of capital developments that have seen major improvements to, and restoration of, the University’s historic campus.
In 2025, Anthony led St Mary’s in the celebrations of the 175th anniversary of its foundation and the centenary of the move to Strawberry Hill, celebrating all that had been achieved since its founding by the Catholic Poor Schools Committee in 1850. While reflecting on the strength of St Mary’s foundation and values, the University also looks forward to the future as it plans its first overseas campus, in Dubai, due to open in 2027.
During a 40-year career in higher education Anthony has served in three universities (Warwick, Hull and St Mary’s) and three HE agencies in the UK and internationally, successively leading as CEO the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), Australia’s national statutory regulator for HE. Among many non-executive appointments, he was Chair of Council and Pro-Chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire from 2007 to 2009 and Chair of GuildHE from 2021-24. Anthony currently serves on the boards of GuildHE and the Cathedrals Group, and of AVEPRO, the Holy See’s HE quality assurance agency. He is Upper Warden of the Worshipful Company of Educators in the City of London.
Speaking of his retirement, Anthony said: “It has been an honour and a privilege to lead St Mary’s University over these six years. Since 1850 we’ve been a community that places our students and their well-being and success at the heart of everything we do. The sense of common endeavour and strong support is very clear, not least in our excellent student feedback. We’re ambitious for excellence, as our rise up the rankings shows, and the opening of the School of Medicine will be another great step forward. Our achievements are those of a strong, committed team at every level across the whole community, from governors to senior leaders to outstanding academic and professional staff – my deepest thanks go to all of them.”
The Archbishop Elect of Westminster, Richard Moth, Chair of St Mary’s governing body, commented; “Anthony McClaran has given outstanding service to St Mary’s University since joining us in 2020. His experience and vision for education at the tertiary level has enabled him to direct the continuing development of the University, not least the progress towards the opening of the School of Medicine later this year.
While the university community will be very sad to see Anthony leave us, we know he will bring his many gifts and skills to new opportunities and we wish him and his family well in all that lies ahead.”
Anthony will step down at the end of the 2025-26 academic year. The search for his successor now begins.