Professor Chris Husbands, director of the Institute of Education, University College London, has been appointed as the new vice-chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University.

Professor Husbands will take up the post in January 2016 when the current vice-chancellor Professor Philip Jones retires.

Professor Husbands has been at the Institute of Education for eight years and oversaw its merger with UCL last year.

The merger made UCL the largest postgraduate institution in the UK with 19,000 postgraduate students.

Geoff Dawson, chair of the board of governors at Sheffield Hallam, said: “Professor Husbands’ appointment comes at an exciting time for our university as we look to the future. His excellent experience of academic and institutional leadership will help us shape a strong future for Sheffield Hallam and all those who benefit from our work.”

Speaking to TES, Professor Husbands said: “What attracted me to the post is the scale of Sheffield Hallam. It educates people to do important and useful things, it educates teachers, nurses, lawyers and engineers.

“It is a huge university with 35,000 students and the opportunity to take it from a really good university and make it into a really great university for its students, staff and region is really exciting.

“It would take a special job to get me out of the Institute for Education and this is a very special job.”

Professor Husbands did a degree in history and a doctorate in geography at the University of Cambridge. He qualified as a teacher in London and taught in Norwich and Hertfordshire.

He has also been director of the Institute of Education at the University of Warwick, professor of research in education and dean of the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of East Anglia.