Four senior administrators are to leave the University of Hull within the next few months, writes Claire Sanders.

The resignations of Kevin O'Hara, finance director, Anthony McClaran, academic registrar, and Judith Rees, pro vice chancellor, were made public earlier this month. Paul Bolton, registrar, has since said that he is also leaving the university.

Hull is known to be facing financial difficulties, and was safety-netted by the ÖйúAƬ Funding Council for England in its allocations for 1995/96. It has been given Pounds 77,254 in transitional funding, but is not on the funding council's critical list.

The council confirmed that a routine audit was carried out at the beginning of this academic year, before the present funding allocations, and that nothing alarming emerged.

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Graham Chester, senior pro vice chancellor, said: "The four individuals leaving the university are all going to new jobs - all of which are promotions." He said that he was unaware of any issue linking the resignations. None of the four staff was available for comment.

Professor Chester argued that despite the safety-netting the university's finances were in the "most robust position for many a year". He said that over the past five years the university's reserves had increased from Pounds 1 million to Pounds 9 million and its research grants had increased by 250 per cent.

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But in his annual address to the university's court last month, David Dilks, vice chancellor, said the university's increase in funding of just 0.5 per cent for the next academic year was effectively a cut.

Professor Dilks said that the unit of resource was being driven "inexorably down".