The Chancellor is the titular head of the University of Glasgow and President of the General Council, by whom they are elected. The office is intended to be held for life. Their principal duty is to confer degrees upon those presented to them by the Senate, although this role is usually carried out by the Vice-Chancellor, the appointment of whom is the Chancellor's second-most important duty.

The current Chancellor is Dame Katherine Grainger, the first woman to hold the office.^[1]

From the University's establishment in 1451, the office was held by the Archbishop of Glasgow, except in the case of Lord Blantyre, who held all the powers of the Archbishop as 'Lord of Glasgow'. This trend ceased with the appointment of the Duke of Hamilton as Chancellor in 1642, although resumed from 1661 to 1692 for a subsequent run of seven archbishops, from Andrew Fairfoul to John Paterson.

Five of the eight Chancellors in the past hundred years have been alumni of the University. The Earl of Roseberry, a former Prime Minister, was educated at Oxford; Sir Daniel Macauley Stevenson did not attend university but was a generous benefactor of the University; and Sir Donald MacAlister, who studied at the University of Cambridge served as Principal between 1909 and 1929. Sir William Kerr Fraser had also been Principal prior to his appointment and, other than the most recent two chancellors, is the only holder in the past hundred years not to have died in office.

* denotes alumni

• Ancient university governance in Scotland
• Principal of the University of Glasgow
• Rector of the University of Glasgow

• University of Glasgow :: Facts and Figures :: Chancellor
• University of Glasgow :: Story :: The Chancellor