Rector

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The word rector ("ruler," from the Latin regere) has a number of different meanings. The term and office of a rector are called rectorate.

In languages such as German, Norwegian, Swedish and Polish, the spelling is Rektor; in Italian, the word became Rettore, and in Finnish Rehtori.

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Academic rectors

The Rector is the highest academic official of many universities and certain other institutions of higher, sometimes even secondary, education.

The title is used widely in higher education Europe, including Italy, Germany, Scandinavia, the Benelux, Spain, Portugal, Iceland, and Scotland. In Latin American countries, such as Argentina, Brasil, Mexico and Peru, it is also very common. At some universities it is phrased in a loftier manner, as Rector Magnificus or Lord Rector.

A notable exception to this terminology was England, where universities were traditionally headed by a "Chancellor", and this designation followed in the Commonwealth, USA and other countries under Anglo-Saxon influence.

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Scotland

In Scotland, the position of Rector exists in the four ancient universities, which are the St Andrews, the Glasgow, the Aberdeen and Edinburgh. The Dundee, technically an 'ancient university' owing to its separation from the University of St Andrews, also follows this tradition.

The post (officially Lord Rector, but by normal use Rector alone) was made an integral part of these universities by the Universities (Scotland) Act 1889. Whilst the chief executive of these universities is the Principal and Vice-Chancellor, the Rector chairs meetings of the University Court, the governing body of the university, and is elected at regular intervals by their matriculated student bodies. This role is considered by many students to be integral to their ability to shape the universities' agendas. To some extent the office has evolved into more of a figurehead role, but given recent threats to the status of the Rector as the chair of the Court, and the value placed upon this role, there has been a resurgence of interest in recent years in the idea of electing more respected, experienced figures. This is because students have come to realise the importance of electing people who are competent and could be taken seriously, and that not treating the position with respect would make it far easier to argue for the status of the Rector as chair of the Court to be discontinued. Nonetheless, a significant number of celebrities have often been elected as Rectors, such as (Peter Ustinov at Dundee, Clarissa Dickson-Wright at Aberdeen, and John Cleese and Frank Muir at St. Andrews.

Gordon Brown, the current Chancellor of the Exchequer, was Rector of Edinburgh University while a student there, but since then most universities have amended their procedures to forbid currently matriculated students from standing for election.

The head teacher of a Scottish secondary school is in many cases known as its Rector.

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England

At Oxford and Cambridge, English universities headed by chancellors, most colleges are headed by a master. At a few colleges, this role is instead played by a president or a warden; and at two of the Oxford colleges - Lincoln College and Exeter College - the head is called a rector.

At University of London, the head of Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine is called a Rector as well.

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The European continent

The head of Dutch universities is called rector magnificus, as in some Belgian universities (notably the oldest and largest, KULeuven).

In some countries, including Germany, the position of head teacher in a secondary school is also designated as Rector; in the Netherlands (aside from Dutch-speaking Flanders), Rector or often Conrector (literally co-Rector; not necessarily collegial, sometimes assistant head) is used commonly, as in some Maltese and Dutch secondary schools.

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The United States

The title "rector" is generally used at secondary schools and boarding schools affiliated with the Episcopal or Catholic Church, where the headmaster is often an ordained clergyman. Most US colleges and universities follow the English method, and use the term 'chancellor' for either the president, or the chairman of the board.

A notable exeption is the University of Virginia, which does employ the term "rector".

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India

The heads of certain Indian Boarding schools are called Rectors.

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See also

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Ecclesiastical rectors

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Anglican churches

In the Anglican Churches, a rector is one type of parish priest. For historical reasons, some parish priests in the Church of England are called by this term while others are called vicars. Roughly speaking, the distinction was that the rector directly received the tithes of his parish, while a vicar was paid instead a salary (sometimes by his diocese).

The term has been re-used to designate the priest in charge of a team ministry (See also curate.)

In the Church of Ireland, Scottish Episcopal Church, and Anglican Church of Canada, most parish priests are called rectors, not vicars. In the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, "rector" is usually used for the priest in charge of a self-sustaining parish while the priest who heads a mission—a congregation supported by the diocese—is generally called a vicar.

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Roman Catholic Church

In the Roman Catholic Church, a rector is a priest appointed by the diocesan bishop to take charge of a church not belonging to a parish.

This is often the case with the cathedral of the diocese, which, in the Anglican Communion, would be headed by a dean. The specific term in the Roman Catholic Church is Plebanus.

A rector can also be in charge of the main church of a Catholic university or the church of a seminary. Rectors of those institutions have special obligations under canon law.

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Rectorates in politics and administration

  • Rector provinciae was the Latin generic term for the governor of a Roman province, known since Suetonius, and specifically a legal term (as used in the Codices of Theodosius and Justinianus) since Emperor Diocletian's Tetrarchy (when they came under the administrative authority of the Vicarius of a diocese and these under a Pretorian prefect), regardless of the specific titles (of different rank, such as Proconsul, Praeses, Consularis, Corrector provinciae)
  • For the use of the style duke and rector of Burgundy by the Zähringer dynasty claimants to viceregal powers as Regent in the Arelat kingdom of Burgundy within the Holy Roman Empire, see King of Burgundy#Rectorate of Burgundy
  • The Comtat Venaissin in southern France was administered by a Rector since it became a papal possession till 1790 (on 24 May its States General -representative assembly- proclaims a constitution, but remains loyal to the pope).
  • Similar gubernatorial use or as Chief magistrate in city states in the Adriatic, also in the Italian form Rettore, includes:
    • ...
    • Primo Rettore, 8 September 1920 - 29 December 1920 Gabriele D'Annunzio (b. 1863 - d. 1938) (foremrly Italian Commander) in Fiume
  • In a few 'Crown lands' of the Austrian Empire, one seat in the Landtag (regional legislature of semi-feudal type) was reserved for the Rector of the capital's university, notably: Graz in Steiermark (Styria), Innsbruck in Tirol, Wien (Vienna) in Nieder-Österreich (Lower Austria); in Bohemia, two Rectors seated in the equivalent Landesvertretung
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Sources and references

de:Rektor eo:Rektoro id:Rektor nl:Rector Magnificus pl:Rektor pt:Reitor ru:Ректор sl:Rektor sv:Rektor uk:Ректор

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