A "dean" (Latin: decanus) was originally the head of a group of ten soldiers or monks.
In Bulgarian and Romanian universities, a dean is the head of a faculty, which may include several academic departments.
In Russian universities, a dean (декан) is default name for the head of a faculty, which is equivalent of a department.
In a Canadian university or a college, a dean is typically the head of a faculty, which may include several academic departments.
McGill University also uses the title of pro-dean to refer to the ad hoc officer responsible for administering a PhD thesis defence.
They serve as the direct representative of the dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies and are responsible for the defence being handled in strict correspondence with the university regulations.
[2] In German speaking countries the Dean ('Dekan') is the head of an academic unit on the secondary level of a university, in most cases a faculty.
Each university has broad discretion in grouping individual subjects together to form faculties, in some cases this might lead to a relatively loose compound of self-administered departments with a comparably weak dean's role, in other cases faculties might be organised in a more centralised manner.
The pro-deans are likewise elected professorial members of the faculty, while the assistant dean is usually a longterm administrative role with a strong academic background.
In some universities in the United Kingdom the term dean is used for the head of a faculty, a collection of related academic departments.
"[10] The LCME further require that the dean "must be qualified by education and experience to provide leadership in medical education, scholarly activity, and care of patients"[11] and that "[t]he dean and a committee of the faculty should determine medical school policies.