Mrs Gillian Roberts (née Murray ) was the last Academic Registrar of the University of London ; her retirement in 2006 marked the final stage in the university’s transition from a truly federal academy to what is in effect a loose confederation of academically independent colleges and institutes. As the most senior academic administrator of the university, Mrs. Roberts pivotally assisted in this transition, even though she privately regretted it. Gillian Frances Murray was born on 3 November 1946 and educated at Sydenham High School and the University of Southampton . In 1967 she was appointed to the Academic Department of the University of London , located at the Senate House in Malet Street . A painstaking draftswoman, of scrupulous integrity and equally meticulous discretion, she moved inevitably up the hierarchical ladder, specialising in the robust academic management of the vast portfolio of degree programmes offered both by the federal university, by its constituent col