It is a well kept secret in North America that in most of the rest of the world students and/or staff elect their university presidents.
In most of the rest of the world, university presidents are elected not selected.
For example, in the Ukraine the news is not that there are elections for university president but rather that the elections are alleged to have been interfered with by the government: HERE and HERE.
In Canada, not only has the problem of elections been solved (where such a concept is not even on the radar) but also the problem of institutional independence is being solved by simply naming politicians as presidents.
By comparison, virtually all of Latin America and most of Europe have elected university presidents (and also deans of faculties) and only the least democratic countries on the planet have outside politicians named to these positions.
In Canada, not only are outside former politicians installed as presidents but the university administrations do this themselves without being explicitly directed; thereby showing the highest possible level of deference to corporate influence and of disregard for institutional independence and academic freedom.
At "Canada's university" (aka University of Ottawa) this is how the president is selected: HERE.
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