Vice-chancellor-elect Deborah Prentice’s term of office has been cut from the maximum of seven years to six years and three months from July 2023, to end in September 2029 instead of July 2030.

The alteration has been submitted as a Grace to the Regent House, and will be approved on 2nd December unless it is withdrawn or a ballot is requested.

The University Council said it had been notified that the seven-year term which had previously been proposed for Prentice was incompatible with the University’s Employer Justified Retirement Age (EJRA).

Prentice’s term as vice-chancellor will now end on 30th September 2029.

The University’s EJRA rules mean that a university officer must retire at the end of the academic year in which the officer reaches the age of 67.

The University justifies this rule by saying it “aspires to the highest international levels of excellence in education, learning and research” and that the University must “plan their staffing structures to allow maximum effectiveness across these activities”.

Prentice has led Princeton University since 2017 and is set to join Cambridge in July.

Stephen Toope, the previous vice-chancellor, was also offered a seven-year term, but left his post two years early at the start of October this year after receiving extended criticism from the right-wing press over culture-war issues.

He was due to complete his original term in October 2024.