There is a ceremonial element to the role, and the visitor may also be called upon to give advice where an institution expresses doubt as to its powers under its charter and statutes.
[1][2] The Higher Education Act 2004 transferred the jurisdiction of visitors over the grievances of students in English and Welsh universities to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as a member of the Canadian royal family, served as the visitor to Upper Canada College from 1955 to his death in 2021.
[17] In the United States, the office of visitor, from its early use at some colleges and other institutions, evolved specifically into that of a trustee.
Certain colleges and universities, particularly of an earlier, often colonial founding, are governed by boards of visitors, often chaired by a rector (rather than regents or trustees, etc.).
[18][19] In the Jill Paton Walsh continuation of the Lord Peter Wimsey series of detective novels, The Late Scholar, Lord Peter (now the Duke of Denver) is the visitor of the fictional St Severin's College in Oxford, which is central to the plot.