The principal of the University of Edinburgh has announced he will not seek a third term in the role.
Prof Sir Peter Mathieson will stand down in 2028, 10 years after joining the institution from the University of Hong Kong.
His decision comes just a week after staff represented by the University and Colleges Union (UCU) began five weeks of strike action in a dispute over £140m of planned cuts.
Mathieson, who will also leave his position as vice-chancellor of the university, said his time in the role had been a "massive privilege".
He informed the university's court of his decision on Monday.
Terms as principal last for five years.
Mathieson, who was knighted for services to education in 2023, admitted there had been "difficult times" during his tenure.
He told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast: "Everything that I've done, I've always believed, has been in the university's best interests.
"There have been difficult times. These jobs are difficult and I accept that. That's part of the role when you take these kinds of jobs on.
"But it is actually a joy to be principal of the University of Edinburgh, it's a massive privilege. I'm very pleased that I've had such an opportunity."
The university said it would set out plans to find his successor at a later date.
Mathieson said he would be advising his replacement to "do what they think is in the best interests" of the institution.
He previously issued a series of warnings over the future funding model for the higher education sector.
When the planned £140m worth of cuts were announced last spring, the UCU described them as "unnecessary".
They claimed the university had acquired more than £1bn in capital assets since Mathieson took over, including the Edinburgh Futures Institute.
In May last year, the Senatus Academicus committee – which oversees teaching and academia at the university – backed a no-confidence vote in the university's leadership in relation to its financial situation.
Lecturers undertook a marking boycott in April, after which, Mathieson was confronted by a protester in a coffee shop close to the Old College quad.
The university has since cut about 90 courses while hundreds of workers did not have contracts renewed.
Mathieson has also faced consistent criticism over his high salary, and was mocked last summer when he told the Scottish Parliament's education committee he "did not know" exactly how much he was paid.
The UCU claimed the university had repeatedly failed to rule out compulsory redundancies, and 1,800 jobs could be lost as a result of the cuts.
The union described the programme of cost reduction as "unprecedented" in Scottish higher education.
The UCU's Edinburgh branch said Mathieson's tenure had been "marked by mismanagement".
They added: "The fact that we are having to take five weeks of strike action, in a university that is not in deficit, is a direct reflection of his failure as a university principal and as a manager.
"His investment strategy has systematically prioritised capital and buildings over staff and students, and has been characterized by inaccurate and unexplained projections to justify overwork and budget cuts.
"If students and staff are now united against him, it is because of how little consideration and respect this senior management has shown to their workers and to the university community during their tenure thus far."
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