, the first vice-chancellor of the
University of Sydney,
Australia The executive head of an Australian university is the vice-chancellor, who serves as the university equivalent of a chief executive officer. The vice-chancellor is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the university and reports directly to the University Council, which the chancellor heads. Assisting the vice-chancellor, the roles of deputy vice-chancellors and pro vice-chancellors have emerged to better manage the administrative overhead of the position.
Canada and Scotland Canadian university vice-chancellors almost always carry the title of "
president (or equivalent) and vice-chancellor"; likewise, in Scotland, they hold the position of "
principal and vice-chancellor" (as do a few Canadian universities such as
Queen's University and the
Royal Military College of Canada). In the Scottish practice, the one individual may have two sets of official robes, reflecting a continuing division of responsibilities between the two posts. The vice-chancellor's robes, therefore, should not be worn in the presence of the chancellor but should only be worn when deputizing for the chancellor.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland , Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford; painting by Gilbert Jackson Almost all chief executives of institutions with university status in England, Wales and Northern Ireland use vice-chancellor in their title. Additional titles are sometimes used alongside vice-chancellor in England and Wales. Most of these involve the use of either "president and vice-chancellor" or "vice-chancellor and president", and have arisen in the 21st century, although the title of the chief executive of
Durham University as "
vice-chancellor and warden" dates back to 1937 (and refers back to the use of "warden" as the title of the chief executive of the university from its foundation to 1909). The full titles of the vice-chancellors of
Oxford and
Cambridge universities, used only in formal address, are "the Reverend the Vice-Chancellor" and "the Right Worshipful the Vice-Chancellor", respectively. Some examples of the use of "president" alongside "vice-chancellor" include the
University of Manchester (in England), where the statutes define the title of the chief executive officer of the university as "President and Vice-Chancellor",
Queen's University Belfast (in Northern Ireland) and
Cardiff University (in Wales). The chief executives of some member institutions of the
University of London that are also universities in their own right also use the title vice-chancellor, e.g.
Birkbeck and the
London School of Economics (as "president and vice-chancellor") Some institutions without university status also use "vice chancellor" in the title of their head, such as the
Walbrook Institute London, which uses "Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer".
India In India, most
central and
state level universities have a titular head called chancellor who is either the
President of India or an eminent person appointed by the Government of India (in central universities) or
state governors (in state universities). The head of a university is the vice-chancellor, the highest paid official of the university. Next in command are more than one pro-vice-chancellor in charge of academic as well as administrative and financial affairs. In
deemed universities and
institutes of national importance, the head of the institution is either called
director general or
director, the latter designation being more commonly used in academic terms in the subcontinent. Among the State Universities, The state ministers are de-facto pro-vice-chancellors of universities of professional Importance. Eg. The State Minister for Medical and Health Care will be the de-facto pro-vice-chancellor of the state medical university.
Bangladesh The
President of Bangladesh is the titular chancellor of all universities in Bangladesh, public or private. The vice chancellor is the executive head, and his/her deputy, the pro-vice chancellor holds a full-time administrative office.
Nepal The
Prime Minister of Nepal is the titular chancellor of most universities in Nepal, public or private. The vice chancellor is the executive head, and along with Registrar holds a full-time administrative office.
Sri Lanka In Sri Lanka, all the government universities are administered by the vice-chancellor.
Sudan In Sudan and South Sudan, universities are administered by the vice-chancellor.
Kenya In
Kenya, chancellors are titular heads of public universities, either appointed by the head of state (president) directly, or, in newly introduced legislation, at the recommendation of senate and alumni of the university. The day-to-day running of universities is the responsibility of the vice-chancellors. "Rector" and "president" are not commonly used terms in university administration. The vice-chancellor is assisted by a number of high ranking University officials known as Deputy Vice-chancellor, popularly referred to as DVC. The DVC's head specific departments of the university such as Finance and Administration, etc.
Malaysia In Malaysia, all the government universities are administered by the vice-chancellor.
Nigeria In
Nigeria, chancellors are ceremonial heads of public universities (mostly traditional monarchs), appointed by the head of state (president), governor of a state (in the case of state-owned universities) or assumed by the owner of a private university. The day-to-day running of universities is the responsibility of the vice-chancellors. There are also pro-chancellors who are government appointees that head the universities' governing councils. The university governing council is the highest administrative organ of a Nigerian public universities. They approve projects, contracts, recruitments, promotions and are regarded as employer of university workers. They also appoint the principal officers of the university including the vice chancellor. They exercise all these functions on behalf of the "visitor." The visitor is the president of the federation (for federal universities) and state governors for state-owned universities.
Ireland In Ireland, day-to-day operations of the universities are under the directorship of a president (a
provost in the case of
Trinity College Dublin). However, the president of each constituent university of the
National University of Ireland also has the title of
pro-vice-chancellor of the NUI.
Philippines In the
University of Santo Tomas, neither the chancellor nor the vice-chancellor are the day-to-day head of the university. The chief executive officer of the university is the rector. The vice-chancellor position is held
ex officio by the
Prior Provincial of the Dominican Province of the Philippines, the Dominican province that has majority control over the university. The
Master of the Order of Preachers (the leader of the Dominican Order) is
ex officio the chancellor of the university. In the
University of the Philippines, the chancellor assigns different vice-chancellors to handle different aspects of running the university. There is one for instruction, administration, and community affairs, among others.
Sweden In Sweden, the rektor (
rector) is the head of a Swedish university, but the word
vice-chancellor (
vicekansler) is often used as the English translation of rektor. The
vice-chancellor (
vicekansler) is also an honorary title given to the
rectores magnifici at the universities of
Lund and
Uppsala. University chancellor (
universitetskansler) is the office of the highest civil servant in the Swedish university system.
United States In the United States, a vice chancellor (typically spelled without a hyphen) is an assistant to a chancellor, who is generally the (actual, not merely ceremonial) head of one campus of a large university which has several campuses. The head of the entire university is the president (the equivalent of a Commonwealth vice-chancellor), the chancellor is in charge of one campus, and a vice chancellor is one of their direct reports responsible for a broad area of authority at one campus. Some systems, such as the
California State University and the
Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education invert this arrangement so that the chancellor is the head of the entire university system, while a vice chancellor is an executive who directly reports to the chancellor and is responsible for a broad area of authority across the entire system. At the
University of the South, the vice chancellor is the administrative head of the university (as well as mayor of the town of Sewanee). The chancellor is a bishop of one of the 28 southeastern
Episcopal dioceses that own the university and is elected by the members of the board of trustees. The chancellor neither resides at the university nor holds administrative power; the office of chancellor is a ceremonial one. ==References==