THE reason Professor Glynis Breakwell left her prestigious academic position in Surrey was to develop Swindon's university.

She knew she liked the town because she spent eight years here in the 1980s and 90s doing psycho-logical research into sexual behaviour and other topics.

This month Glynis started her job as the University of Bath's vice-chancellor.

She describes herself as the university's chief executive and has an expanding staff of 2,000.

Although the university is based in Bath, it is investing in two campuses in Swindon one at the former Oakfield School in Park North, which is already open, and the other at North Star, which could take around five years to finish.

Glynis sees the campus in Bath, the one in Malaysia and the two in Swindon as an entire body and not separate entities, and is involving herself as much as she can with the project here.

She has even chosen to live halfway between Bath and Swindon so she can divide her time more easily between the two places.

"Swindon has been saying for the last half a century that it wants a university, and there are people in the town who are totally committed to developing it," she said.

"And at my end I am also totally committed to making it happen."

Glynis, 49, is a psychologist who has a PhD and the higher qualification DSc (Doctor of Science). She worked at the University of Surrey in Guildford for 18 years where she was a professor of psychology, and became the head of the department, which was the biggest in Britain.

For seven years she was the pro-vice chancellor of the university, but was then headhunted by the University of Bath, which is one of the top 10 in the country.

"The main reason I took the job was because Swindon was about to happen," she said. "There aren't many places left in Britain where you can develop a new university.

"I am committed to investing in the best facilities and employing the best staff at all our campuses, so when students see what we have got they say 'gosh, it is better than the other place up the road' and they come to us.

"I want to give students the best possible experience of university life, both socially and academ-ically."

On Monday the first 15 students will arrive at the University of Bath in Swindon for the first day of the newly launched University of Bath Executive MBA.

It is the first degree programme in a multi-million pound project to bring university education to Swin-don, and will be taught by world-class academics who are already teaching MBA students at the Bath campus.

Glynis has big ideas for Swindon and she appreciates that renting accommodation in Swindon from the private sector is extremely expensive.

So she hopes to build subsidised student accommodation similar to that in Bath, both at Oakfield, which is a 46-acre site, and North Star.

And with a new NHS hospital being built at Commonhead, Glynis sees an ideal opportunity for the University of Bath to develop its medical research and teaching in Swindon.

She also wants the university to capitalise on Swindon's inter-national reputation for creative arts, by working with companies such as Swindon Dance.

"The possibilities for developing our programme of creative arts are fantastic," she said.

Research units of different disciplines will be located in Swin-don, and next autumn a programme of engineering will begin.

And she envisages the university will also act as a support to other organisations and authorities in the borough.

"We don't just do teaching and research, we have an awful lot of experience that people can call upon.

"I have already committed the university to working very closely with the Local Education Authority, which has just failed its Ofsted inspection.

"We have got to put our expertise behind people who are helping us, when they need help."