The president and vice-chancellor of The University of Kent is stepping down from her high-profile roles.

Professor Karen Cox’s resignation comes after a turbulent year for the institution, with the announcement that six courses are set to be axed, following protests from students and staff over the plans.

In an email to alumni, Professor Cox said she “remains proud” of her achievements while in post at the university, based in Canterbury with a campus in Medway.

Explaining her decision, she said: “The last few years have been an incredibly volatile time for UK higher education - with significant financial challenges for the sector, periods of industrial action, Brexit, Covid, inflation, changing student expectations, increased competition, and geo-political uncertainty.”

She added: “We have also faced into the medium- and longer-term challenges impacting the sector and have proactively taken the important and challenging step of re-imagining the university for the next phase of its development, to ensure its continued success and contribution to the region and the UK.”

Professor Cox says she is proud of the launch of the new medical school in partnership with Canterbury Christ Church University, forming an Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries and working to become a Right to Food University.

After a consultation, it was announced last month that six courses at the university will be phased out. These are anthropology, art history, health and social care, journalism, music and audio technology, and philosophy.

No new students will be taken on to read those subjects, although those already studying them will be “supported” until the end of their degrees.

At the time, the university said it was adapting to meet future student demand, and the changes will support growth in other areas, such as business, psychology and biosciences

In February, around 200 staff and students demonstrated on the Canterbury campus against the coming cuts, waving placards and chanting “No cuts. No Losses. Take it from the bosses.”

In a further cash-saving measure, the university’s Rochester and Gillingham buildings on the Medway campus are to be handed over to the University of Greenwich, which shares the site.

After Easter, all the remaining departments at the Gillingham campus will be moved into the Medway building.

An “extensive” recruitment process will now take place to appoint the university’s seventh vice-chancellor.

In the meantime, the University’s Deputy vice-chancellor Professor Georgina Randsley de Moura will take over as Acting vice-chancellor when Professor Cox leaves on May 22 this year.

Chair of Council at the university, Mark Preston, said: “I’d like to thank Karen for her exceptional leadership of the university through what has been an incredibly challenging period for the sector. She has our deep gratitude.

“Her hard work and determination have been critical in both launching key new initiatives and supporting staff and students through periods of significant change.

“Karen’s work has culminated in leading a strategic review of our size, shape and ambition for the future, captured in our Kent 2030 plan. It draws on our strengths, creates a clear mission for the next phase of the University’s life, and has won the support of key internal and external stakeholders.

“We will now be looking for the next person to take Kent forward, continuing to build on this strategy, while ensuring we meet what students and industry are looking for from universities in the future.”

Professor Cox said her time in the prominent roles had been a “complete privilege”, adding: “There isn’t a day that has gone by where I haven’t felt proud and inspired by the talent, drive and ingenuity of our students and staff.

“I am, and will remain, a passionate advocate for the power of higher education as a driver of social mobility and as a key part of our wider civic society. I look forward to celebrating both this and Kent’s continued successes under new leadership in the years ahead.”

Leader of Medway Council, Cllr Vince Maple, said: “I want to thank Karen for her service to the University of Kent over the past seven years.

“The partnership between Medway Council and the university continues to be vital for Medway as we move ahead. I appreciated Karen, on behalf of the university, being one of the signatories to the One Medway Charter last year.

“I wish Karen the best for her future endeavours and look forward to the continuing relationship between Medway and the University of Kent.”

In an interview with KMTV, outgoing head of the Medway-based Centre for Journalism, Ian Reeves, was scathing about Professor Cox.

Asked about what her legacy would be, he said: “It’s not great; it’s terrible actually.

“The cold facts of where the university finds itself really do speak for themselves. There’s been multiple years of more than ten million deficit and a projected deficit in the current year of £30 million.

“That’s a completely unacceptable situation and that has all happened on [her] watch.”