Imperial President Alice Gast

Alice Gast will step down as Imperial College president at the end of her contract

She earns £358,600 a year

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Professor Alice Gast will step down from her position as president of Imperial College.

With a salary of £358,600, she is one of Britain’s highest-paid university bosses.

Gast’s contract expires in 18 months and she will not be seeking to renew it. This comes after Imperial conducted an independent investigation into allegations of bullying made against Gast in December last year.

“I am very sorry that I bullied someone”, she said in a message to the Imperial community.  

Despite the university’s resolve to “drive changes as a result of the recommendations” that came out of the investigation, the president retained her position.

Imperial claims to have a zero-tolerance policy towards bullying and harassment, meaning students and staff were confused as to why the inquiry did not result in her stepping down immediately.

The university has been accused of “covering up” the full extent of Gast’s behaviour as well as failing to disclose the results of a disciplinary hearing she faced.

Imperial also made edits to their harassment and bullying page on the website in December by removing a line that counted bullying as ‘gross misconduct’.

This line has since been reinstated, along with a comment that this was a “clerical error”

According to the Daily Mail, Gast told her staff: “I have been fortunate to talk to many of you as I have visited departments in recent weeks. My goal for these visits has been to share with you, in all humility, the lessons I have learned from the events of the past months and to hear your views and hopes for the future.

“As you prepare to search for my successor, I am focusing on how I can best use the final eighteen months of my term as President of Imperial to continue my work with governments, partners, friends and donors to ensure a positive trajectory and a firm foundation for my successor.”

Imperial have been approached for comment.