Theprincipal is thechief executive and thechief academic officer of auniversity orcollege in certain parts of theCommonwealth.
In theUnited States, theprincipal is thehead of school at most pre-university, non-boarding schools.
Queen's University,[1] the suburban campuses and constituent colleges of theUniversity of Toronto, andMcGill University[2] inCanada have principals instead ofpresidents orrectors, as a result of their Scottish origins. In addition,Bishop's University,[3] and theRoyal Military College of Canada also have principals.
Many colleges offurther education inEngland have a principal in charge (e.g.,Cirencester College[4] andWest Nottinghamshire College[5]).
Atcollegiate universities, the title of principal is used for thehead of college at many colleges. These include:
In South Africa, theHigher Education Act 101 of 1997 defines the principal as "the chief executive and accounting officer of a public higher education institution."[13] The definition allows for the alternative nomenclatures of vice-chancellor and a rector, and these terms are in widespread use (the termvice-chancellor is more common in English-medium universities, whilst the termrector tends to be used inAfrikaans-medium universities). The exact name in a particular university will be defined by theInstitutional Statute. The same act defines the chancellor as the titular head of an institution.
InScotland the principal is appointed by theUniversity Court or governing body of the university and will bechairman orpresident of the body of academics. In the case of theancient universities of Scotland the principal is president of theAcademic Senate. The principal also holds the title ofvice-chancellor, but their powers with regard to this position extend only to the awarding of degrees, as both the vice-chancellor andchancellor aretitular posts.
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In 1999, there were about 133,000 principals and assistant principals in the United States.[14] In the early decades of public education,[clarification needed] the full title was "principal teacher", which accounts for the present-day title having an adjectival form, essentially being a shortened version of the original full title. Yet the termshead(master/mistress) andhead of school are still used in older schools, such as in Louisiana and some southern small towns. School principals in the United States are sometimes required to have school administrator licensing, and often, a master's degree in educational administration.[15][16]