In the United Kingdom and many other countries, the council is responsible for all financial matters, the buildings and the appointment of the vice-chancellor.
According to the Higher Education Code of Governance, the primary responsibilities of Council include appointing the executive head of the institution (normally titled the vice-chancellor), delegate powers of management to them, and monitor their performance.
[1][2] Council will normally have an independent chair and (except for Oxford and Cambridge) a majority of "lay" members, not employed by the university.
In the United States, the university council takes the form of a board of regents or trustees.
It is authorized to initiate policy proposals as well as to express its judgment on those submitted to it by the administrative officers of the university and its various academic divisions.
In this public expression of a heterogeneity of views, without their resolution into an agreement for action, may serve the University Council's advisory purpose authentically, and especially when such a diversity of discourse increases understanding among constituencies in addition to revealing the breadth of considered opinion as a ground for accommodation in subsequent University decision-making.... "Membership on the Council requires a readiness to attend meetings of the Council regularly and to participate fully in its business, including the work of its committees.