|TOP|The University of Wales in Cardiff has expressed its delight in announcing that the Archbishop of Wales is to be its new Pro-Chancellor.

The Most Rev Dr Barry Morgan will take over the new post after the current Pro-Chancellor, the Rt Hon Dafydd Wigley, stepped down from the office to avoid any potential conflict of interest with his candidacy for election to the National Assembly.

Archbishop Morgan said: “The University of Wales is one of our foremost national institutions.

“It is a privilege to have been asked to serve as its Pro-Chancellor and I look forward to helping the University meet the challenges that face it and the rest of the Welsh higher education sector.”

|AD|Professor Antony Chapman, the University’s Senior Vice-Chancellor, said: “I am delighted that Barry Morgan has agreed to take this post. He is greatly respected as a public figure, as a Christian leader and as a Welshman.

“It is a great honour for the University of Wales to have him as its Pro-Chancellor.”

Archbishop Morgan was educated at University College, London and Selwyn College, Cambridge before training for the ministry at Westcott House, Cambridge.

He has served in a variety of posts within the Church in Wales, from curate to Bishop of Llandaff, following his ordination as priest in 1973 and before going on to become the Archbishop of Wales thirty years later.

The appointment has been made on the authority of the University’s Chancellor, HRH the Prince of Wales, and awaits a final decision from the members of the University’s Court which will meet next in Spring 2007.