Chancellor (education)

This article is about the higher education title. For other uses, see Chancellor (disambiguation)

A Chancellor is the head of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as Rector, President and Provost

In most British Commonwealth (or former Commonwealth) nations, the Chancellor is usually a titular (figurehead) non-resident head, often with a Pro-Chancellor as practical Chairman of the governing body ("The Council"); the actual chief executive of a university is the Vice-Chancellor.

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Canada, Hong Kong and Scotland

Canadian and Scottish universities follow the English tradition in having a figurehead Chancellor, but the day-to-day operations are typically handled by a "Principal" who also carries the title of Vice-Chancellor. In Canada, the Principal may also be called "President" or "Rector".

In Hong Kong, universities also have a figurehead Chancellor. Day-to-day operation is in the hands of either a Vice-Chancellor or a President, depending on the institution.

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Republic of Ireland

In the Republic of Ireland the four universities all have a Chancellor as their figurehead leader. However day-to-day operations of the universities are under the directorship of a President (a Provost in the case of Trinity College Dublin). The National University of Ireland's constitutent universities do not have a chancellor each, rather, the president of each constituent university has the title of Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the NUI. In Dublin City University and the University of Limerick, the chancellor is also the chairperson of the university's Governing Authority.

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Australia

In Australia, the Chancellor is Chairman of the University's governing body; thus, as well as having ceremonial duties, the Chancellor participates in the governance of the University (but not its active management). The Chancellor is assisted by a Deputy Chancellor. The Chancellor and Deputy Chancellor are frequently drawn from the senior ranks of business or the judiciary (it is one of the few jobs considered compatible with judicial service). Some universities have a Visitor, who is senior to the Chancellor, and is generally the state Governor (or, for Catholic universities, a Bishop). Once upon a time, university disputes could be appealed from the governing board to the Visitor (as is still the case in the UK), but nowadays such appeal is generally prohibited by legislation, and the position has only ceremonial functions. (In fact, little function at all, since the Visitor will rarely attend University functions, unlike the Chancellor and Deputy Chancellor, who frequently preside at functions such as graduations.)

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United States

In the United States, universities usually call their heads "presidents," but the name chancellor is sometimes seen, most commonly in a system of connected state universities. A given state's university system is often headed by a "chancellor" who serves as the system-wide chief, while individual campuses are headed by presidents; a typical example is the California State University system. Exceptions include the University of Alaska system, the University of California system, the Louisiana State University System, the University of North Carolina system, the University of Illinois system, the University of Wisconsin System and the Purdue University System, within which the two titles are reversed. So in California, for example, the CSU chancellor supervises the presidents of CSU's 23 campuses, while the UC president supervises the chancellors of UC's 10 campuses.

The College of William and Mary uses chancellor in the British way for a figurehead leader, at present former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, but the day-to-day head is an American-style "president," not a "vice-chancellor."

The University of Mississippi uses the chancellor system, with the chancellor serving as the chief executive officer of the system, while the medical school is headed by a vice chancellor and the four other campuses are headed by various deans that report directly to the vice-chancellor of academic affairs.

The Chancery of the Smithsonian Institution, a largely ceremonial office, has long been held by the Chief Justice of the United States.

Outside universities, the title is sometimes used to designate other education officials, such as the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education (f/k/a Board of Education).

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India

In India, almost all universities have their titular head as a chancellor (Hindi: kulādhipati), whose function is largely ceremonial. The de-facto ruler of the university is the Vice-Chancellor (Hindi: kulapati). His equivalent for engineering institutes is the Director (Hindi: nirdéshak), even for those engineering institutes who are deemed universities, like the Indian Institutes of Technology.

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See also