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The Rector is the highest academic official of a university in many countries. At some universities they have the title of rector magnificus.

In Scotland, the position of Rector exists in the five "ancient" universities, St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee. It is a post elected at regular intervals by the students of the individual universities, the holder of which is entitled to chair meetings of the University Court, the university's governing body. The Rector is something of a figurehead (and to a certain extent, a 'mascot'). Actual operation of the university is in the hands of its Principal (or Vice-Chancellor). In recent years Rectors have often been elected from the world of celebrity ( Peter Ustinov at Dundee, and John Cleese and Frank Muir at St Andrews, for example), but nonetheless their position is of some importance to the running of each university. The headmaster of a Scottish school may also be a rector.

In the Anglican church, a rector is one type of parish priest. For historical reasons, some parish priests in the Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and is the mother branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. Christianity was planted in Britain in the first or second c are called by this term while others are called vicarIn the broadest sense, a vicar is anyone who is acting as a substitute or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious"). In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant''. Usually the title appears in a number of Christian ecclesiastical contexts, but is: a rector directly received the tithes of his parish, while a vicar did not, being paid instead a salary (sometimes by his dioceseIn the Roman Empire, a diocese was a city district or part of a province. In the Roman Catholic and some Protestant churches, a diocese is an administrative territorial unit governed by a bishop, sometimes also referred to as a bishopric or episcopal see). In the Church of IrelandThe Church of Ireland which is part of the Anglican Communion, is the largest Protestant church on the island of Ireland, and the second largest Protestant denomination in Northern Ireland. History The Church of Ireland would trace its origins to the anci, most parish priests are called rectors, not vicars. Outside the British Isles the term is used more loosely.