Two senior figures leave their roles at Cardiff University

Two senior figures at Cardiff University are leaving their roles, two months after Nation.Cymru reported how one was said to have fallen out with a colleague and the other was allegedly at loggerheads with officials establishing an offshoot campus in Kazakhstan.

According to sources who spoke to us in August, the university’s Academic Registrar Simon Wright had allegedly fallen out with the Chief Operating Officer and University Secretary Dr Paula Sanderson over administrative changes that were underway as part of a controversial cuts programme. Mr Wright was said to be not at work, with a severance package for him allegedly under negotiation.

Meanwhile Professor Rudolf Allemann, Cardiff University’s Pro Vice Chancellor, International, who led the project to create a campus in the former Soviet central Asian republic was said to have fallen out with the Kazakhs, who had allegedly said they were no longer prepared to deal with him.

The university was said to be looking for other people within Cardiff University to take the project forward.

‘Categorically untrue’

At the time a Cardiff University spokesperson told us: “As we have said to Nation.Cymru on many occasions already, we do not comment on anonymous sources, or anonymous claims made about our staff.

“We will however correct obvious untruths. It is categorically untrue that Dr Paula Sanderson and Simon Wright have ‘fallen out’. They would both like to clarify that they continue to enjoy a positive and supportive working relationship.

“Professor Rudolf Allemann’s role focuses on identifying and nurturing new opportunities for Cardiff University globally. The operationalisation of Cardiff University in Kazakhstan is the responsibility of the Chief Operating Officer. Professor Allemann’s attention is now focused on other emerging international opportunities.

“We will not be offering further comment in relation to this enquiry.”

However, speculation about Prof Allemann’s position intensified when, despite taking the leading role in the negotiations for the project, he was not present at the official opening of the new campus in Kazakhstan in September.

It has now been confirmed that Prof Allemann is relinquishing his position as Pro Vice Chancellor, International, although he is staying on at the university to undertake research.

Severance package

University sources have also confirmed that Mr Wright is leaving, having completed negotiations for a severance package.

We asked Cardiff University whether it was correct that Prof Allemann was stepping down from his role as Pro Vice Chancellor, International, but was remaining with the university.

A spokesperson for the university responded: “Yes.”

We also asked whether Mr Wright was leaving, whether he was getting a severance payment and whether he was signing a non disclosure agreement.

The university spokesman said: “We don’t comment on individual cases.”

NDAs

The spokesperson added: “Just for your info/as a reminder, Cardiff University doesn’t use NDAs.”

A university source said: “It appears that Nation.Cymru’s story of a couple of months ago has been vindicated.”

The alleged fallings-out took place in the wake of controversial cuts announced in January 2025. In their original form, 400 jobs would have gone with five academic schools shut down, including Nursing and Music.

A high profile campaign against the plans was led by the University and College Union, which secured an agreement that there would be no compulsory redundancies before the end of 2025.

In June a scaled-down version of the cuts was revealed and the amended business case for the so-called “Academic Futures” proposals was approved by the university’s top decision making body.

The proposals passed by the University Council included:

Ending teaching and research in the subjects of Religion, Theology, Portuguese, German, and Italian; and ending the teaching of Ancient History.

Reducing student numbers in the teaching of Nursing, some languages, and Music (after initially planning to axe the provision entirely);

Merging Welsh, English, Communication, Philosophy, Music, History, Archaeology and the remaining languages which weren’t cut entirely into a new School of the Global Humanities;

The School of Geography and the School of Social Sciences will be merged into the School of Human and Social Sciences;

The Schools of Physics, Earth Sciences, and Chemistry are to be merged into the School of Physical and Environmental Sciences; and

Computer Science and Maths will merge into the School of Computational and Mathematical Sciences.