University governors to quit over £36m blunder

Governors at London's biggest university have agreed to resign over a £36million funding fiasco, it was reported today.

London Metropolitan University was ordered to pay back the cash after wrongly claiming money for students who had dropped out.

A deal is now said to have been agreed for the majority of lay members on the university's board of governors to go. Brian Roper, vice-chancellor at the time, has already left.

London Met has more than 34,000 students across two campuses in Islington and the City.

Government funding is tied to student numbers and the crisis arose because the university overstated how many undergraduates were successful in completing their courses.

The university is being forced to repay £36.5million to the Higher Education Funding Council for England. An inquiry into the shambles said the governors must take responsibility.

An agreement was penned before a meeting of the governors on Tuesday night, under which the chairman, Peter Anwyl, would leave by the end of March, according to the Independent.

The remaining lay members responsible for overseeing the university's accounts would leave by the summer, the paper reported. A spokeswoman for the university said the agreement had been "slightly revised" at the meeting and could be published today.