Professor

Professor. The use of this term to denote a public teacher in a university seems to have been derived from Italy. In the universities of Germany and Scotland the professors constitute both the governing body and the ordinary educational staff. At Oxford and Cambridge, on the other hand, their office gives them no share in administering the affairs of the university, and attendance on their lectures is not compulsory, their place being taken under the inter-collegiate system by the tutors and lecturers of the colleges which have combined for purposes of instruction. In American universities each branch of instruction is commonly superintended by a professor, assisted by other professors and assistant-professors.