made up of mainly lay members.
The Council is the governing body of the university, consisting of mainly lay members along with representatives of staff and students. It is responsible for the proper management and financial solvency of the university, with major policy decisions and corporate strategy being subject to its approval.
The Senate is the principal academic authority of the university. It oversees academic management and sets strategy and priorities, including the curriculum and maintenance of standards.
=== International partners ===
The university holds a number of formal links with institutions from around the world to share teaching and research and facilitate staff and student exchanges. Numerous European universities participate in the Erasmus Programme which permits learning across the many institutions in this region. Students at Leeds may choose from twinned European universities, with each faculty having particular university affiliations.
=== Chancellor ===
The Chancellor acts as a ceremonial figurehead and sits on the University Court. Leeds has had seven chancellors since gaining its royal charter in 1904.
Pro-Chancellor
The Pro-Chancellor deputises for the Chancellor. The first, named in the 1904 charter, was businessman and chairman of the Council of the Yorkshire College, Arthur Greenhow Lupton, of a prosperous and prominent family long connected with Leeds and its university. His mother, Frances Lupton, was a pioneering educationalist and more than one of his relatives were Lord Mayor of Leeds. In 1924, Arthur was a Member for Life of the university and had made substantial donations – £10,000 – to the university, as had his parents, Francis and Frances Lupton and his brothers: Charles, Hugh and F.M. Lupton. University archives record that Arthur Lupton's uncles, nieces, nephews and first cousins, including Mrs E. (Baroness von) Schunck, née Lupton, had also been generous donators and in 1924, her son-in-law, "The Right Hon. Lord Airedale", was a Member of the Court of Leeds University, …
